Saturday afternoon, July 18, we drove to Redding. We were surprised to find most hotels filled, but we found a Super 8 with vacancies that worked out fine. Sunday morning we got sunscreened up and did the 3.5-mile McCloud Waterfall Trail, which goes by three falls. Tiny got silly by the lower falls:
I love when my Big E holds my hand.
We didn't stop at the middle falls because we wanted to finish the hike before it got really crowded. The middle falls were the biggest, prettiest, and most crowded.
The upper fall:
We had a bite to eat.
Then we jumped in. Jim went first. He swam out for a second and then immediately swam back and got out as quickly as possible. The water was freezing.
Then I mustered the courage and got in. It takes me a while, but once I get in, I stay in a lot longer. So I guess you could say I'm much stronger than Jim. I wasn't planning on swimming so had to make do with my pants and sports bra. I should have known to be prepared, as our motto is, "Swim in every body of water."
The girls all wanted to get in, so I had to get in repeatedly with them. They all freaked out when they hit the water because it was so dang cold.
After everybody had had his fill of the frigid water, we headed back down.
There's a place to jump down by the lower falls. The girls were so ready to be done, but Jim was adamant that we had to jump. And so it was. (Our second family motto: "It's always better to do something and go somewhere than to do nothing and go nowhere.")
We drove to Ashland, Oregon that night and passed a fire on the way.
We had a loose itinerary for the trip (prepared by Jim) but no hotels booked in advance. Every day, as we determined where we wanted to stop for the night, I got on hotels.com and looked for the cheapest decent-looking place. This place was OK, especially compared to places we'd get later in the trip. Tiny was "cutie baby" that night - her super-snuggly alter ego. She gave us such lovings.
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