Shasta Lake

No single image can really portray the vastness that is Lake Shasta.



Lake Shasta, also known as Shasta Lake, is an artificial lake in Northern California. It was created by the damming of the Sacramento River in 1948 by the creation of the Shasta Dam.

Shasta Dam is the second largest dam in the US (Wikipedia). Shasta Lake is fed by three main tributaries, the Sacramento River, Pit River and McCloud River, though there are many smaller tributaries feeding it as well.



At its longest point Shasta Lake is 35 miles long. It has over 350 miles of shore line, and an amazing amount of water. It is over 500 feet deep in places and has a full pool capacity of over 5000 Gigalitres. It has a surface area of 30,000 acres.

What all this means is that Shasta Lake is a very, VERY large lake with a whole lot of surface area to go play and get lost in. People do get lost on Shasta Lake. There are several “arms” of the lake and it can be confusing as to where you are and where you think you are heading!




So why the history and geography lesson on Shasta Lake? Well because Chris and I took our boat there for our latest adventure!

You may recall that last year we drove down with our friends and visited the dam and the lake, but we didn’t have our boat with us. We just viewed it from the sidelines. Not this time!

We packed up the ‘burb and the boat and took off Tuesday morning for a couple of days of boating relaxation. Shasta Lake is really indescribable. Beautiful. Majestic. Amazing. Huge.



We had HOT sun, about 100 degrees both days. The water was very warm, clean and beautiful. The boat launch was empty. The lake is so huge and has so many little coves, inlets, nooks and crannies that we had no problem finding places to anchor and hang out without anyone else around. We were there mid week and really…the lake was empty. Oh sure, there were people out there, but it was like having the place to ourselves.




We spent Tuesday afternoon on the lake, camped overnight at Antlers RV Park and Campground in Lakehead, California (a really great campground if you ever go: inexpensive, clean, friendly people) and hit the lake again for a few hours Wednesday.



(view from campsite)


We had a lot of fun!











I have to say that this was the highlight of the trip for me:











Yes, those are REAL LIVE Bears; a mama bear and her two cubs! It was incredible. I heard all this ruckus coming from the shore as they moved down the hillside through the brush. I couldn’t see anything though. Then all of a sudden….she came out of the brush and OMG! Amazing. Amazing.

I’m not sure how far away they were from us distance wise, but not that far.



So cool. We kept our distance and they kept theirs. She didn’t linger with her babies there, just long enough for them each to take a dip in the water. Then they moved off and we didn’t see them again. Truly spectacular. Our first ever WILD bear sightings!

We did see a couple of bald eagles as well, but never in a spot to take a good picture.

It is about a two and a half hour tow for us to get to Lakehead, which is not too bad. Our old Suburban handled the haul well and the boat is running excellent. We are thankful to have gone and seen such a beautiful place and to have arrived back home safe and sound with no troubles.

We saw some beautiful views on the way there and back, too.

Mount Shasta



Castle Crag (northern CA)




Shasta Lake was an excellent relaxing way to spend the first couple days of our vacation.

More adventures soon!

Shamelessly Stolen Pasta Salad

Shamelessly Stolen Pasta Salad

Years ago, perhaps about 12 or 13, I was treated to a delicious and very simple pasta salad recipe by my friend Jenni.

Since that time, this pasta salad has become a summer staple at our house and is my “go to” recipe for large gatherings, camping, pot lucks, etc.

This recipe makes a very large salad, so make sure to use your largest bowl. I always manage to convince myself I don’t need my largest bowl and start in my smaller large bowl and then have to transfer everything to my largest bowl. Better to just start with the largest bowl!

*******************************************************************************************

Super Simple Summer Pasta Salad … credit Jennifer (Brown) Laiblin

1 bag pasta, your choice of style (I prefer Rotini style)
1 large cucumber, chopped
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
1 15 oz can black olives
1 bottle Italian salad dressing
½ cup shredded parmesan cheese

Boil pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse in cool water. Add pasta to your LARGEST bowl.

Add chopped cucumbers, tomatoes and olives to bowl.

Top with Italian dressing. Stir well and refrigerate. After about an hour, stir again.

When ready to serve top with shredded parmesan cheese.

*******************************************************************************************

Okay, so that is the basic recipe. Here are some other tips or suggestions.

You can use any type or style of pasta. I like the Rotini style because it is easy to eat and holds onto the dressing well. If you choose to go with a whole wheat style pasta be aware that it will really suck up the dressing, so you may need to have a second bottle on hand to “freshen” up the salad.

Speaking of dressing, you can use any kind of Italian dressing that you like. I have used everything from the cheapest dollar store dressing to Newman’s own style. Currently I really like Kraft’s Tuscan Italian. It has a lot of good flavor without the super tart bite that many Italian dressings have.

Also, this is just a base idea. Feel free to add more or less of the vegetables, your own variety of vegetables or additions to suit your tastes, or use what you have on hand. For example, I like to add some dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained, chopped red bell peppers, or green beans blanched and cooled and cut into pieces. The options are really up to you.

The parmesan cheese is a great addition, but if you don’t have any, don’t add it. I frequently make it without the parmesan cheese.

If you really wanted to go “Tuscan style” on this, change out the black olives for some Kalamata or other good olives, and add a bit of feta cheese.

I get compliments on this recipe everywhere I take it. People who don’t normally care for pasta salads love it. I encourage you to try it out for your next big gathering. Remember, it makes a BIG bowl, so if you make it for yourself you will be eating pasta salad leftovers for a week!

Thanks to my friend Jenni for sharing this recipe with me all those years ago. I think of you every single time I make it.

'Zuki 'xplorin'

‘Zuki Exploring

Several months ago Chris decided that he was ready to be done dirt biking, and ready to sell his AWD Rally Bug and move on to something else. I was surprised that he was ready to sell the Rally Bug because he loved that car so much.



We had fun racing it, but honestly, it had turned into a hanger queen. We haven’t raced in years and have no plans to race anytime in the near future. The car was great, but he had gotten his fun out of it and was ready to move on. He wanted something more suited to our lifestyle now and here in Southern Oregon. He decided on a Suzuki Samurai 4x4.

We have had fun heading out and running around in it. It has a very short wheel base, so it is kind of fun to drive around. He put some new gearing in it so that now that thing will climb darn near anything without too much effort. We have a little off road area not far from the house where we run out to every so often for a half hour of fun.

Today we decided to go on a longer trip and headed up into the hills to the west of Medford and Jacksonville. This is an area with a lot of dirt bike, ATV, cycling and hiking trails, along with miles and miles of forest service roads. We stuck to the roads and just went exploring.

First stop was this lookout point. The flat “hills” in the distance are the Table Rocks, which we have hiked and I have posted about in the past.






As you can see we were pretty overcast and cool today, but the clouds were really high. They broke up by late afternoon and we warmed up a bit and had some sun.

From the lookout point we headed off on another spur road, and then another, and then another. We came across an active logging operation, freshly cut trees everywhere. We came across an older clear-cut on a very steep hillside. We found an old road that was overgrown by grass and bushes. Chris found a spot to do a few doughnuts, too.

For it being a nice summer day we saw NO other dirt bikes, off road trucks, or even ATV’s. We saw two enduro bikes and riders, one little pickup and two parked cars. That was it. We were out there in the hills in a very popular area for over 2 hours! Crazy! This is one of the reasons we like living down here though. No crowds!

When we came down out of the hills we weren’t exactly sure where we were going to pop out at. We certainly wouldn’t be coming down the same was we came in, as we had traversed over several ridgelines. We popped out very far north of where we started. We started out in Jacksonville and ended up in Gold Hill, all through the foothills.

We had a great day, lovely picnic lunch and enjoyed ourselves. Chris found one road that would make a good rally road, and even though we weren’t in the rally car, Chris put the ‘zuki through its paces out there.

The only downside to the whole trip was at the lookout point there was a ton of garbage, beer cans and miscellaneous other junk. I really wanted to clean it up but we didn’t have anything to transport it all in. We decided the next time we head out we are going to bring a garbage bag with us so that we can help clean up after the lazy morons who ruin the beauty for the rest of us. In fact, I think I’ll go put a garbage bag in the lockbox right now.



Hope you all had a great Saturday, too! Feel free to comment with your own Saturday Adventure!

Holy Radish!

Holy Radish Batman!

After my post earlier we went out to the garden and decided to check on our second batch of radishes. They were ready! Look at these gorgeous babies!






Oh yah... looks like we will be having radish salad and some mexican food, and dipping them in hummus!

Yay for garden bounty!

2011 Garden

Well I thought I’d update you all on our garden!

Gardening has been a lot of trial and error. Last year several of the things we planted just wouldn’t grow…like beets. We also had spotty luck with carrots. Some things that did grow got attacked by bugs, like cabbage and brussel sprouts.

Some of it was our own fault for getting too excited and planting early. Our pepper and tomatoes just never really made a comeback from the late frost we got.

Other things did great! Our peas, beans, potatoes and cucumbers all gave us lots of bounty.

This year we added a couple extra boxes, changed a few things around and *patiently* waited to plant most things until mid-late May. We did plant peas, radishes and beets early (thought we would try again with the beets). Our weather was very wet and colder than normal through, well really, just about the beginning of June. Our peas are pathetic, just barely producing. The beets, again, totally no go. The first round of radishes only about half of them actually produced a radish of any size. I planted lettuce seeds and they pretty much have done nothing.

At this point I am glad there is a grocery store nearby and that someone else somewhere in this world has better luck growing things than I do!

In the last month we have planted many starts and seeds of a variety of things. We also tried to grow our own starts of some pepper varieties and some basil. This also was not one would call a success.

At any rate, we have at least *some* promising growth happening out there. The corn, potatoes, tomatoes and the zucchini all look good, healthy, bushy and green. Other things seem to be struggling a bit, but we are fertilizing, trying to deter the bugs and slugs and generally giving positive encouragement to everything.

We also have some new additions to our yard this year. Our cherry tree never fruited last year….but this year we have these:



We also bought 3 blueberry plants, and they are looking pretty good:



No picture, but our lemon is about double or triple its original size.

And to make things look prettier, Chris planted these for me:



Here is hoping that with continued encouragement, heat, fertilizer, and water that our garden perks up and we have a good season.

I can hardly wait to eat my first tomato sandwich!!

Mt Shasta

Mt. Shasta

When the opportunity came for Chris and I to move from Portland, Oregon to Medford, Oregon one of the reasons we decided to accept the job transfer was our love of adventure and exploring. Southern Oregon and Northern California would be an entirely new world to explore. Chris and I were both raised in the Pacific Northwest, he in Olympia, Washington and I in Vancouver, Washington. We had spent our youth and early married years exploring Washington and Northern and Central Oregon, even into parts of Idaho. The Pacific Northwest is a beautiful place, and no we have not explored every little inch, but we have been many places. Maybe future blog posts will discuss old adventures around Oregon, Washington and Idaho. This post is about NEW adventures.

For Spring Break Chris and I decided to head south to visit Mt. Shasta. We had driven by a few times, but never been there. Chris wanted to do some snowboarding and I wanted to relax after a particularly grueling Winter Term where I took 20 credits, not to mention I was still recovering from the emotional ordeal with mom’s Fall hospitalization. I wanted some peace, quiet, and a massage. :-)

We made arrangements to stay in Mt. Shasta City at the Mt. Shasta Resort and golf course. We arrived Friday afternoon and got settled in a cool, newly refurbished mountain cabin. Oh, and it was snowing. It had been snowing for about 24 hours according to the locals. There was probably about a foot of snow on the ground. Chris was excited! Fresh powder on the slopes for the next day!

We went to dinner at the golf course restaurant. Truly, the best dinner out we have had in this area since we moved here. I was still doing my spring cleanse, so decided on a mushroom barley soup, grilled salmon, veggies and rice pilaf. It was SO delicious. The mushroom barley soup was amazing, made with real mushrooms and packed with flavor. The salmon and veggies were not soaked in butter, but truly just grilled and steamed. I don’t remember what Chris got…probably prime rib…but I do know that his dinner was delicious as well. We were both very impressed. We had a lovely view of the golf course, freshly covered in untouched snow.

We stayed up late watching movies and talking. It snowed all night.




The next morning Chris hit the slopes and I headed to the spa at the resort for an hour long facial AND an hour long massage. Without a doubt the best facial I have ever had and the massage was pretty amazing, too. I walked out of there a couple hours later feeling like a big pile of mush…in a good way. It was still snowing. In fact, the road has been plowed before I went for my massage, and after two hours there was already over 2 inches of fresh snow on the road. It was really coming down.

Chris ended up coming back early from the Mountain. The conditions up there were very poor, due to the snow storm. Windy, cold, and so much heavy wet snow that when he would fall down he would be up to his chest in snow and then have to somehow dig/climb out of snow that didn’t have any pack to it. He was exhausted after only a few runs. He came back to the cabin to recharge. Basically the rest of the day was spent relaxing with each other, talking, watching cooking shows and we went for a walk...in the snow. It was still snowing.

It snowed all night.


Sunday morning we decided to head back home early. It was still snowing. Getting out of Mt. Shasta city proved to be interesting as several people who shouldn’t have been were out trying to drive around in the two feet of snow that had fallen. The maintenance crews were focusing on main streets and I5, not side streets.




We headed back home and as we got farther North the snow dissipated and it became dry and sunny. The people heading south were not so lucky. Chains were required. This is the line of trucks and vehicles that were either stopped to chain up, or were parked waiting for the roads to clear.


Our trip to Mt. Shasta was great. An adventure in ways we weren’t expecting. I look forward to heading back there for another special weekend trip, maybe in the summer.

Hello again...again...

Oh, I have been so bad about being here!

I wanted a blog for a long time before I started this and then I finally set it up, I don't use it as often as I should.

I felt like I didn't have anything to say. I felt like my boring little life didn't hold enough interesting tidbits.

However, after doing a little soul searching and brainstorming the other day I realized I have an entire LIST of things that I could, and want to, talk about!

I am not making any promises about how often, how much, or content, or even if the timeline will be in order of events as they happened. What I am saying is that I have set "blogging" as a goal for myself for this summer. I want to spend more time on this project that I wanted for so long.

Thanks for being here. I always love feedback and comments. I hope as I continue this project that you, too, will find something valuable here.

Just for fun here is a recent picture of Chris and I that I really love! It captures the essence of "us" in so many ways.