Blog 4 20^th to 27th June 2014   Sacramento, Lassen Volcanic Park, Springfield and The Spruce Goose.

We said goodbye to Cath at SF airport. She’s now in Arizona on a horse called Tonto, having a great time looking for tumbleweed and Titan Missile Bases. 

Museum Poster

We moved on to Sacramento so Rick could enjoy the Sacramento Railroad Museum; and he did just that.  The trains were classic Union Pacific locos, cow-catchers and all. He was particularly taken by the superb interpretation by retired rail workers, from the dining waiter to the sleeping-car attendant. He was very interested in how Western America was transformed by the huge expansion of the railroad and how the government and entrepreneurs carved up the land (becoming very rich and resulting in 0% income tax in late 1920s).

Old Sacramento....needs some horses!

I, who don’t always share Rick’s enthusiasms, chose to spend the morning pootling round Old Sacramento, an area by the waterfront that is as it was in 1850s, with boardwalks and old, balconied buildings. Many of them are eateries, with the ubiquitous burgers and chips, but it was an interesting area to meander around on a hot day. Downtown Sacramento appeared to be struggling a bit, its high street area rather empty, with many closed shops even in the malls .

Comfortable living! Can you believe the price on that microwave?

Suitable for parties? Spot the slideout. bit

Drive on in.  Convertible Balcony deck!

 We also found an RV show in Sacramento, so simply had to visit it. We were amazed at what’s inside these giant behemoths – space in which to drive your car, fold-out balconies, 50ins TVs, fully-equipped kitchens, his-and-hers bathrooms. There’s enough room in some for all the Tallentires to party!  This one evn had an external kitchen, toilet and shower. It's called a 5th wheeler as you need a big pick up truck to pull it.

Volcanic Gloop

hot stuff

Our thanks must go to the chap who recommended Lassen Volcanic National Park. He described it as a ‘hidden gem’and so it is, coming a very close second to Yosemite. The area has such an amazing variety of terrain, all created by its volcanic geology. It’s one of the few places in the world to have all 4 types of volcano – shield, cinder, plug dome and composite, with exciting rubble fields, lava beds and erratic rocks. We walked up to the magnificent hydrothermal area, Bumpass’ Hell,  named after the owner who fell in (115deg) and didn’t swear, we’re told. At 6500 ft, we reached the fumaroles and mudpots, with steaming pools and rivulets of boiling water – and snow. It smelt pretty strong too.

Cinder Cone challenge.  Spot the helical footpath on this 35 degree slope

just started and just about exhausted

Rocky path to Bumpass

Cinder Cone conquered

Our greatest challenge here was climbing the Cinder Cone volcano, a 4 mile, high altitude treck on a cinder ash trail (like walking through sand and gravel), with the last half mile being a 750ft climb to the top. I could only do 20 paces then stop, all the way up. Hard going but worth it – magnificent views of mountains, The Painted Dunes and the Fantastic Lava Beds, beautiful colours and shapes, topped with lava rubble. Looking down into the volcano was simply amazing.

We bypassed London and avoided Lebanon and Drain on our way to Springfield (actually, the Simpson’s version is in Indiana, but we did find Moe’s Tavern). Somehow Lumpy’s Grill didn’t do it for us, so we chose to eat in Plank Town, a restaurant/pub and micro brewery. Rick enjoyed his Riptooth IPA, although he could have had Bart’s Best Bitter. As space was limited, we inflicted ourselves on a group of unsuspecting strangers – and what a splendid evening with 5 lovely people! We nattered and chatted about all sorts, from metric and imperial systems, cruises, trips, elections and health services. When the conversation turned to trains and planes and other engineering things Rick was treated to Quinton’s handheld video of a 200 horsepower lathe that can turn a 1.5 metre diameter tree trunk into thousands of metres of veneer for plywood.

Good food, good beer and good company, what more could you want?  Thanks for a memorable evening, and also for suggesting we visit the Evergreen Aviation Museum, to see the Spruce Goose (which is actually mainly made of birch ply) with the longest wingspan of any plane ever built at 97.5 m (320ft).  Designed to carry 750 troops or a couple of Sherman tanks, it was flown only once, in 1947, by Howard Hughes owner/designer/financier/multi-millionaire. What a machine, and we’ve now been inside it

Sugar seems to feature highly in American cuisine – breakfast toast with fudge sauce, Rick’s last Denny's burger came with maple syrup on it, and we watched in wonder as a young family in Waiaka dipped seasoned fries into their chocolate chip icecreams for a late afternoon snack - unusual?

     

Signs continue to be interesting - you need to be sure where you’re going here! or you'll 'likely end up some place else' (Mark Twain?)

     

We’re now back in Olympia, collecting our passports (I forgot them!), because tomorrow, we’re on the ferry to Canada.

If you've time, more pictures at:

Old Sacramento  and the Railway Museum

https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6030575416212677745

Sacramento RV Exhibition

https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6030577081586657697

Lassen Volcanic National Park   https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6030578890416249937

Climbing Cinder Cone

https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6030580661070900209

Canyonville and Springfield

https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6030582366474760753

Spruce Goose and Evergreen Aerospace Museum

https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6030171184086005889