It’s a small small world

We have been pretty content here in Redding so far. We have lovely hosts who live upstairs in their beautiful house that they renovated four years ago when they married. We are in a pretty, downstairs, one bedroom apartment with nice outside patio where I stretched and did yoga in the sun. The house is built into a hill so although we are in what used to be a basement, there are windows, lots of light, and little touches that make this place great. It is spotless, newly renovated, has comfortable couches, easy access to outside, lots of closet and pantry space, and a view of Lassen mountain. Our hosts have been generous and kind. They invited us for drinks and appetizers last week, and shared their upstairs view of both Mount Shasta and Lassen, and the stories of their lives, their children, their work, and their hopes. It was a delightful evening that I really needed because although I love my husband very much, I also require more social time with others.

I spent the week working for Paychex (the beginning of training my replacement),taking yoga and pilates classes at the local and generally very full Shasta Family Y, and biking and/or hiking outside almost every day. The weather continues to be unusually warm and sunny – so much so that everyone here worries about the possible consequences of not having the usual rain and snow.

I hiked on Wednesday morning with a group of strangers. We found the group by talking to a guy that Chris biked with on Sunday. It is an informal group that hikes every Wednesday at 9 am. There were about 12 people and they welcomed me warmly as I was included in an almost 4 mile hike up to Whiskeytown Falls. There is a federal recreation area 7 miles out of town called Whiskeytown that has a huge lake, and tons of walking and mountain biking trails. This particular trail went up to beautiful falls. I got to know about half the group who hiked the same speed as me. There were several teachers, a retired federal park employee, and other active folks. It took about 40 minutes to hike to the top where the falls are. This particular trail was about 12 years old, just recently built although there had been an informal trail prior to that. Along the way there was a creek, stunning forest views and sometimes views of the huge Whiskeytown Lake.

Later in the day, I had a “small world” moment. One of the women I hiked with had two daughters who both worked in museums. She proudly told me that her daughter who lived in San Diego was currently at a conference in Palm Desert. When I texted my old friend from college, Marjorie, that evening, she shared with me that she was at the same conference!

No one knew why this area is called Whiskeytown though. Maybe that is a story for another day.