Lake Shasta

This past weekend found us on yet another adventure. Only this time, we were going on an overnight adventure, a first since our time here in Pasadena began. We packed up our car and drove north to Lake Shasta, to join my parents who were camping there. We left Friday morning and arrived back in Pasadena on Monday night. The drive took 11 hours (including stops) and was well worth it!

We left the milder temperatures in Pasadena only to be greeted by 103 degrees at the lake. That's right. At one point in the weekend, the car thermometer read 106! There was no wind at the lake which left us feeling hot most of the day, and also meant no sailing in my dad's sail boat (bummer!). The temperature cooled down to the mid-70's at night, which made for comfortable sleeping. Can you just feel how hot and sticky this child was??Maddie was a real trooper! She slept all by herself in her own tent. It was a really good set-up for us. My parents had their tent, we had ours, and Maddie's pack-n-play was set-up in her tent, which sat in between our two tents. Although it was a challenge to enter and exit the tents quietly, without the zippers waking her up, it was still a successful arrangement. There was a fantastic concrete pad that Maddie played on. She loved walking around with her walker or playing with toys inside the play pen we set up for her. It was much cleaner than we could have anticipated!

My parents had been at the campsite since Wednesday and had raved about how quiet the campground had been. Unfortunately, we arrived on Friday night, which was when everyone else arrived as well. Across the way from us, there was a group of about 20 people who decided they were going to have a party. All..night..long. After an unsuccessful hour of attempting to put Maddie down for bed (mind you, it was 10:30, about 85 degrees, and LOUD), and had just about had it. Spending an hour with a baby who is tired but can't fall asleep due to the noise around her, can be very tiresome. They were blasting their music, drinking loudly and using profanity like it was going out of style. I was more than frustrated by the time I overheard one of the people say, "How about some Metallica?" At that moment, I put Maddie down in her crib, wide awake, and stomped over to their campground. When I say stomped, I mean stomped. My fists were tightening, my jaw was clenched and I was an angry "Mother Hen" ready to go to bat for the good of my daughter. Awhile before this moment, we had all been debating if one of us should go talk to the camp host, or talk to our neighbors ourselves. We gave them the benefit of the doubt and tried to see if they would quiet down after 10 (being the quiet hours on the campground). That didn't happen.

So anyway, my dad saw me take off with a look to kill and came up behind me just as I was approaching their party. Funny thing about moments like this: I was all ready to explode walking over there, but with each passing step, my courage went away and I began to feel like I shouldn't intrude. By the time I was noticed by one of the women, I said kindly, "I've got a baby over here who can't fall asleep. I was just wondering if you could possibly turn your music down just a bit?" Ah, nice and neat, huh? Well, kindness pays off. They were immediately apologetic and turned the music off. We said thank you very much and left them alone. Although the music turned off, their voices did not...we heard them telling stories well past 2:30 in the morning! Well, you can't have it all! :)

Saturday, we took a little hike up into some caves just across the bay from where we were camping. It was a great day for this, as the caves offered some relief from the heat! Unfortunately, Maddie was not too happy about the sudden darkness and environmental change, and she let us know!Holding up the caves! Okay, so not really. But it was a fun photo-op anyway.
After our trip to the caves, we went to the Shasta Dam and took the free 1-hour tour inside the Dam. They keep the temperature at 65 degrees 24 hours a day, so this was a fabulous point in our day! :) It was a really interesting tour and a bit creepy to be standing in a hallway with a wall of water just on the other side of the concrete wall...
We arrived back at the campsite and took Dad's boat out on the lake. (Sorry there are no pictures, Dad. I was taking them with your camera). Again, there was no wind, but we had paddles to row with. Dad, Brant and I rowed out into the lake, threw the anchor in the water and jumped off the boat to swim and cool off. It was great! Mom was wonderful and stayed behind on the shore to play with Maddie in the shallow water.Before bed, Maddie wanted to help organize the campsite...
Sunday brought with it more heat and more adventures! Prior to any more adventures, coffee must be enjoyed and walking around the campground must be accomplished. Anyway, we had heard about a lookout tower nearby that we were interested in checking out. The map showed a 5 mile drive up a road that dropped you off at the trail head to the tower, which was another 1/4 mile up. We drove up the road for 1.25 miles before coming across a road sign that read:We debated what to do for a minute before deciding to park the car and begin walking. We didn't know how far we would make it but decided we would take it as it came. Surely it wouldn't take us that long! Well, we didn't really think this hike all the way through. The outside temperature was hovering around 100, we had 4 water bottles, and a small lunch.
My mom was the real trooper - she carried Maddie during the hike, with a smile on her face and a song in her heart - literally. She sang and entertained her the entire time!We ended up hiking the road, which was a steady incline and elevation climb of about 2500 feet. We got to the top of the road and I was ready to give up. Can we say, "hot and bothered??" Me! Me! I can!! (Truly, this picture does not capture how I was feeling in this moment...but I'm sure my mom can remember! :) ) We had pretty much run out of water and eaten our lunch, when my three companions (minus my sweet daughter), voted to venture onward toward the lookout in the distance. Can you see it way on the top of the peak ahead? Yeah. There was still a bit of distance for us to go... They claim that it was my decision in the end, but I don't know how I was supposed to turn them all down, 3:1! Maddie wasn't really paying attention...So, off we went!

Long story short, we made it to the top of the lookout where there was a 365 degree view. It was more than spectacular! We stayed on the top for about 20 minutes to rest, before heading down back to the car. This is the lookout from a distance.
Mt. Shasta. So pretty!
The hike down wasn't significantly easier than the hike up, because it was incredibly hot and it was a steep decline. We determined that the round trip hike was about 9 miles. Whew! At least we can say we did it, right Dad?! :)We had such a memorable, wonderful time. Both Brant and I are proud that we took Maddie out on a real camping trip at such a young age, and didn't let her stop us. We are so grateful to be living this close to family to be able to do random, fun trips such as this one! We're looking forward to the next one! As for this coming weekend? I say again, I think we're heading back to the beach!