Driving to Lassen

Just a reminder.  If I don't have Internet service tonight in Lassen National Park, I won't be able to blog about it until we get back to civilization.  What is it with the National Park Service?  I bet they even have Internet in Siberia, why not in the Parks? I guess you're not supposed to play Candy Crush in a National Parks.  As Jim would say, "It is what it is!"

Anyway, I am looking forward to some squirrel action and to meeting up with my Maltese boyfriend, Gianni and his sister Mia who will be coming in tomorrow.

A Walk in the Park

It's our last day here in Chico.  Tomorrow we leave for Lassen Volcanic National Park where there are no services and we will be dry camping for three days.  Today we're running errands in preparation for the move.  First thing on the agenda was my bath!  As you can see from this picture, I wasn't too thrilled. 

It was a day for paying bills, grocery shopping and a trip to the post office.  The weather is cooling down a little, today it was only 92

in the shade.  Still way too hot for me!  I can't even think about chasing the squirrels here, all I want to do is lie down in the cool green grass.

Kathe and Jim went for a long walk in Bidwell Park this afternoon and decided to leave me home.  It's a good thing they didn't take me because they both came home sweating bullets!  I guess I was the lucky one, I stayed cool in the motor home.

Bidwell City Park has over 3600 acres for picnicking, swimming, hiking and biking.  There are huge sycamores and towering oak trees that are over 100 years old.  They filmed the original Robin Hood here in 1937.  One of the most popular features in the park is the swimming hole that was created by damming the Big Chico Creek.  There must have been 100 kids enjoying themselves on this hot afternoon.

Lazy Day in Chico

First, let me say it's hot, hot, hot!  It was 87 at 6 AM when I got up and that was the coolest part of the day.  Add in my fur coat...you do the math!  I spent the whole day inside,  lying on the tile floor  with the air conditioning blasting.  Walk? No thanks.  I'll just run out to that shady tree and get things done as quickly as possible and then it's back to the A/C for this little puppy.

My people slept in until 9, ate breakfast and decided to see the sights of Chico.  They went to the Bidwell House, a 10,000 sq. ft. Victorian mansion built in 1868.  John Bidwell led the first overland expedition to California when he was 22 years old.  He struck gold here on the Feather River near Oroville and bought 26,000 acres in 1860 and founded the town of Chico.  The three story mansion has over 13 bedrooms and had running water and indoor plumbing which was a novelty for that era.  Jim was especially interested in the "elephant" toilet in the master bathroom.  Much of the original property is now the second largest urban park in the nation, and the home of Chico State University.  The mansion is now a California State Park.

After the hour long tour, Jim found a great Mexican Restaurant for lunch and then it was time to go wine tasting.  In Oroville they found the Long Creek Winery and Ranch.  They enjoyed the wines and also tasted some delicious Angus beef which was also sold at the winery.  Can't wait to taste the steak they brought home.

I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain...

We have Internet!!!

For the past week Kathe and Jim have had me in such remote places we've had no, or slow Internet.  Today we are in Chico, California and I have one word to say about it: CIVILIZATION!  We have cell and Internet service and I can finally start to tell you about my adventures.

Yesterday we were in the "Gold Country" staying at the 49er RV Resort in Plymouth.  We had a great visit with Jim's cousin, Gary Riha, who lives near here.  The cousins haven't seen each other in 40 years so they had a lot of catching up to do.  The RV park was adjacent to the Amador County Fair so while I stayed in the air conditioned coach they all went to see antique tractors, sheep, goats and pigs.  I smelled hot dog on a stick on Jim's breath when he came home!

You can see that there were plenty of ducks in the park for me to chase, but because the temperature was 97 degrees, my heart really wasn't into it.

The three humans went out to dinner at the Imperial Hotel in Amador City. The hotel was opened in 1879 during the gold rush and has been historically restored.

Well, back to the fire and rain!  We've had rain in Bridgeport and Lake Tahoe and last night we had fire in Plymouth.
We saw a plume of smoke last night and when we woke up this morning it was like a foggy day at the beach.  Only we couldn't breathe.  We left Plymouth a day early and will be here in Chico for next three days.

I'm Blogging at Last!

We're on the road again!  We haven't been able to use the computer due to technical difficulties for the last 5 days.  Don't really know why things changed today, but we didn't have any cell or internet service at the first few places we stayed.

We spent 2 days in Bridgeport, California at the Willow Springs RV Resort.  We arrived in the middle of a terrible thunderstorm and everyone got wet trying to get us hooked up in site #7.  The next day we hiked around Virginia Lakes and Twin Lakes looking for the perfect spot for Jim to fish.  He tried several places, but didn't catch anything.

I am enjoying the trip so far and really liked our second stop, Fallen Leaf Lake in Tahoe.  There were thousands of chipmunks running all over the place.  I was minding my own business and one jumped right over my head!  I chased him, but lost him when he ran up a tree.

Some pictures from the desert to the pine forest.