"Home Sweet Home" - #girlscalicamping2014 Day Six

We got a special farewell as we packed our vehicle to leave the hotel.  "Jack the Hotel Cat" is still alive and happy at the Redding Fairfield Inn.  It was a sweet way to end our experience.

As it was, we had stayed as long as we could with a late check-out, departing at 1pm.  Again, no one was in a hurry - and I was trying to get as much rest/ice/nap time with my headache to see if I could beat it.   

Our trip home was pretty uneventful, sans the pulling off to the side of the freeway on the busy Shasta Lake curves.  There was a foam block that had been dislodged with the whole bumper incident that was pressing up against the tires as we made the turn and making quite the racket - not to mention a fair amount of panic from Michele and I.   Michele was doing the driving as I was trying to ice up my neck.  Fortunately, we were able to take care of the issue and also jerry-rig the other piece kind of dragging the ground.  Oh man, we are some responsible vehicle owners, huh?!

Finally, we pulled into home around 6pm - and was it a sight for sore eyes.  Michele ended up deciding to drive home as the girls were missing their daddy and Michele was missing her hubby (between mid-school camp, serving at Harlow, and camping - it had been three weeks since Nati had been home!).  We were all glad to all sleep in our beds and see our men.

And, in my case, my dog.  OH MY GOODNESS - she was attached to me.  She was sitting as close to me on the couch as she could - 

And, yes - in this picture, she's licking me.  I think someone missed her Mama....

I missed her too.  It might have been one of the best camping trips yet in our 6 years of doing this with the girls - but, home is home.  =)

"Beware the Halfpipe" - #girscalicamping2014 Day Five

After a hot breakfast prepared by someone other than myself (thank you Fairfield Inn and your complimentary breakfast fare!) - we headed off to WaterWorks Park to be there when it opened.  We scored with tickets purchased through the hotel that were $4 less per person and allowed us to bypass the long ticket-purchase line at the gate.  We were first in the gift shop to get our extra seat tubes, locker for storage, and cups of ice to refill throughout the day.  We were set.

We had also doused the girls prior to even leaving the hotel in sunscreen.  Temps for Thursday were supposed to reach triple digits.  And, despite our best slathering efforts at Lake Siskiyou, Ellie had still ended up burnt, with Michele and I both a little owie in our shoulders and back too.  

The sun was super bright from this angle - hence Ellie's ducking.

Sadly, the girls ended up with a rough start - particularly Nati.  They ended up being very courageous to try the Halfpipe ride - something I've never even done.  While Mikayla and Ellie headed the warning to tuck your chin upon descent and ascent on the other side, Nati forgot too.  And, she kinked her neck pretty bad.

The good news, Nati happens to have an aunt who knows "neck issues" and has several different remedies to improve the comfort level.  Michele sweetly headed out to the vehicle where I had my TigerBalm Cream to rub on the spot.  Out of all of the "Icy Hot/Ben Gay" products out there, this is my current favorite for smell, feel, effect, and length of time of relief.   Nati was my tube buddy for a while just keeping her neck in a relaxed position as we floated around the Lazy River - and then Michele traded places with me and massaged it for her until she started to feel relief. 

 The other girls occupied their time on the non-tube rides...

And, then, Nati was back in business.  

I was guarding our tubes (you have to pay extra for the 2 person and 3 person we had, and other folks would gladly take them off your hands if left unattended).  Mikayla appeared right as I was taking a panorama...

Michele and Nati going for it after taking on the Cyclone - which a few minutes later, Mikayla and myself had fun with.  When we were up on the non-tube slides, waiting our turn to go down the ominous "Dragon Ride" (pretty much dark the whole way down with intermittent neon lights and rather hot and humid inside - a claustrophobic's nightmare, that's for sure....I'm thankful that's not an affliction I suffer from, but I didn't really feel like repeating it) the loudspeaker played "Proud to Be an American" and Mikayla and I shared a special moment bonding as we listened to and quietly sung the song together.  Love that girl.  I would say that was one of the best parts of this water park was the Disney and Family Friendly music they had constantly playing.  It sure sets a mood.

We stayed at the park until 3pm - that's a lot of sun exposure!  So, it only felt right to hit Coldstone Creamery - especially when the one in our town closed a couple of years ago.  We were all very well pleased with our selections.  =)

Back at the hotel, we all took it easy.  I was starting to develop a migraine.  It was "comfortable enough" if I was laying down next to an ice pack - and given how hard I'd been fighting (and winning) the war all week, I wasn't too bummed out to be taken out when there was little left to our vacation.  We watched "The Internship" and just chilled. 

"That's Gonna Leave a Mark" - #girlscalicamping2014 Day Four

Wednesday was our last day camping.  We had wanted to get down to Redding this year to introduce the girls to the WaterWorks Water Park and figured a two night hotel stay would be a sweet way to end the trip (not to mention earning us big time points in a Megabonus deal through Marriott).  However, in hindsight, we all decided it was not enough time camping and the hotel nights weren't as special as the campfire, moonlight, and dining al fresco.  Next year, we'll probably repeat that first night setting out in a hotel to allow us to set up camp before noon- but, we'll probably spend the whole week at the campsite.  So sweet to know our girls feel the same as us about lovin' this outdoor livin'!  

We took our time in the morning - it was kind of overcast and none of us were in a hurry to get moving.  Besides, we were finding ourselves entertained by the little squirrel skittering around to retrieve the leftover bread we had.  

 

Finally, some sunshine!

More card-playing - this time with Pillsbury Orange Rolls and sausage
for breakfast.

We opted to break down most of the campsite - and then load it up once we returned from one more adventure.  First, we checked out the waterfall viewpoints that were the main attraction of this campground.  

I like how my head blocked the view of the waterfall in this pic...

By deciding to not load up, it allowed the girls to do their favorite thing, and sit in the back while we travel back roads.  Such cuties!!!

We came upon this swimming hole by another close-by campground - note the ropes hanging from the upper left hand side of the pic.  The water was a lot colder than the lake we went to and a little murkier - so I don't know if we'd ever choose this place over Lake Siskiyou - but it was a sweet find nonetheless. 

Another return to a different place we'd seen along the route we'd taken to try and find caves.  

As we started to trek off - all of us securely in Nikes this time - (Official footwear of spelunkers =)), I made a bet with Michele as to how long it would take before one of us had a "requiring a bandaid" injury.  Lava rock is unsteady and very sharp - it seemed inevitable.

Michele was first with her injury.  That might scab up a bit, but wasn't bleeding. 

But, then, I did this. 

Sorry if you are "blood sqeemish".  This was actually taken back at the car after it had clotted up a bit.  And, yes, it was right before I put a couple of band-aids on it.  Lava rock cuts deep - I'm pretty sure it will leave a nice little scar the way it is healing up, all ragged and painful.  

 In the meantime though, it was a "no big deal" and the adventure continued. 

We had seen this opening from the other side and went all the way around to find the other side...

It was a very satisfying (if not a little painful) end to our camping experience. And, I'll probably end up with a nice little scar to commemorate it.

The distance from our campground to the hotel was about 70 miles.  The amount of gas in our tank was enough to go about 75 miles.  We kept a careful eye on it as we drove through the Shasta Lake area and thought we'd be fine to get to a gas station just north of our hotel.  But, what we didn't take into account was road construction that slowed us way down. 

Literally, my fuel gauge indicated "0 Miles Left" of fuel just as we approached the gas station exit (while still on I-5).  Thank God the gas station was visible from the freeway.  Michele and I were seriously sweating it....and only informed the girls of the peril we were in AFTER we had pulled up next to the pump.  Forget the fact that the gas price was exorbitantly high at this place....

After that, we were in Redding - and made our way to Target for a few items to tide us over in the hotel and, because we were in Redding - we couldn't pass up dinner here...nomnomnom....

And, then, on to the pool.  While Michele played "Marco Polo" with the girls, I ended up having a final conversation with Julie before she flew out the next day to North Korea.  Would love prayers for that girl - that is a scary destination, that's for sure. 

Back at the room - after well-needed showers, the girls demonstrated their pleasure of getting online again.  Honestly, with the card playing, they really weren't that obsessed with the computers and even when they were, Minecraft or Roblox hardly steals from the unified spirit.   And also, when they were hogging the computers, it takes the responsibility off of me to worry about blogging our adventures thus far - so I was quite fine with it.

Next up - WaterWorks Water Park!