A Good Doggie Day

After keeping Charley in "solitary confinement" for so many hours in Reno, I felt I owed him a good day enjoying nature. We took a drive into the Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity recreation area, specifically around Whiskeytown Lake. Went for a little hike up Brandy Creek for a ways (wasn't smart enough to bring a camera to capture the pretty waterfalls), then decided to go ahead and take the gravel road to completely circumnavigate the lake. Didn't see anyone else on the gravel road and actually put the Toyota into low gear and 4-wheel drive to get up one of the hills (okay, I probably didn't need to, but it's good to work the mechanism now & then). The photo was from one of the high points on the gravel road above the lake.

We stopped at Oak Bottom and sat on the beach and enjoyed the sun for awhile. It's a popular beach and there were plenty of swimmers even though all the facilities (like restrooms) aren't open for the season yet. Then drove back to Anderson and took a nice end-of-day walk along the Sacramento River at the Anderson River Park, where every other person/group was also walking their dog. I seem to be back in Charley's good graces again.

Tonight: Best Western in Anderson. It's a small-town area with few city lights and seems like a great place to view the lunar eclipse, but there's a partial cloud cover so not sure what I'll see.

Tomorrow: Entrada Lodge in Bend, OR