A week in Redding, CA ???????

Friday 9/4/09 We leave Weed, CA heading for Redding, CA www.visitredding.com which we plan to stay only a couple days, maybe. When we arrive at our RV park, Marina RV Park www.marinarvpark.com and discover that it is right on the Sacramento River, I mean right on the river with a small rapid in front of us, and they have a week "special rate" we can't resist and take the one week. It's a great little park and has the friendliest people & unbelievable as it seems....lots to do in Redding & the surrounding area.

After dinner we decide to take a ride down to Sundial Bridge and Turtle Bay Exploration Park www.turtlebay.org (which is just a couple miles from our house) to see what it is. Well they have this pedestrian bridge, with lighted, green glass floor & the bridge is a gigantic sundial. It's absolutely beautiful and this bridge crosses over the Sacramento River which is a wide, fast moving body of water. The weather is warm, it's been in the 90's today and there are so many people out there walking on the bridge and the trail that runs along the river. They also have a Botanical Garden & Turtle Bay Museum so we decided we will come back tomorrow & spend the whole day exploring. We meet some people visiting from Livermore and they said the bridge was built in 2003 and actually have a very nice conversation with them. Honestly, the whole area was beautiful and to think I don't know if I even had heard about Redding, but so far....it's great.

Saturday 9/5/09 Thankfully, we are back to "flat" ground and in a residential neighborhood for my morning walk. I take off to explore the neighborhood. First off I discover right across the street is a movie theater that has 8 movies playing, hopefully we can see one of them. This neighborhood seems to be on the south side of Redding, which is old but nice however it appears the town is moving in another direction. A lot of the businesses in this area are closed up and it has seen better days. But for us...it's great, not much traffic.

We take off at 10 am to return to Turtle Bay Museum which is a family type place. We head first for the Amphitheater for the live animal show....different kinds of birds, turtles, fox, porcupine...telling us about each of them. This is the last week end they have on display Sue, a T Rex dinosaur. It seems it is owned by the Chicago Museum but tours around the country (didn't she come to Fresno?) so we of course went in & learned all about Sue which actually was very interesting.

We visited the bird aviary, where you go in & can feed the birds with a popsicle stick with food on the end of it. You buy a stick for $1.00, hold it out to the bird & he lands on you or the stick & eats it. Fortunately, we got out of there with only spending $2....but it was very fun.

We then viewed the railroad and logging exhibits. An art gallery made out entirely of Lego's which was absolutely amazing to see. We visited the Millhouse and even have lunch in the Cafe at Turtle Bay. No picnic today. After lunch we crossed over Sundial Bridge & was able to see the time markers on the lawn so you could tell what time it was by the shadow of the bridge. We then headed to the Arboretum & Botanical Gardens. There are paved trails thru the 20 plus acres that include many trees, plants, a children's garden, two water displays and plants from around the world....South Africa, Australia, Mediterranean, Pacific Rim, etc. A wonderful, well marked garden and fortunately the weather was in the low 80's and near perfect for being outdoors. We spent almost 6 hours at this place today and had a great but tiring day. Tomorrow we are taking it easy, going back to Turtle Bay for an outdoor farmers market & then grocery shopping somewhere. We have a well planned itinerary for next week, amazing as it seems....there is lots to do & see here...will keep you posted.

Update: Nancy & Howard arrived in Rome, flew to Sicily and are headed for Catania.....somewhere in Italy. Much love to family & friends and this adventure is almost, but not quite over.......