Redding, CA

We LOVED the drive down to Redding, until it got dark. For a while it was just the beautiful forest we were used to, and then it seemed out of nowhere huge trees spiked up into the sky. It was breathtaking to see the grandeur of the redwoods. 

We stopped in Crescent City to see what a good route to take would be. We were told to go up Antler pass. It was really dusty and a little scary to be honest. Not many people were up there and the dust covered everything until you got further in. The sun was setting, so we didn't want to get stuck in the mountains when it was dark, so we ended our exploration a little early.

We were so jittery about this forest that we honestly thought there was a bear in this tree trunk once. It was a scary but funny experience. Neither of us wanted to get in it to take a picture, even after we knew nothing was in it. 

We were wrong about getting out of the mountains before dark. It took FOREVER to get out of these mountains. We were up there for about seven or eight hours in the dark, with Jon driving really slowly and every corner being a little more tense. Jon told me at one point that it was so dark and he had been driving for so long that he didn't know up from down, and he was serious. If you ever decide to go this way, make sure you make it out before dark. Longest trip ever. We also saw a wildfire and a lot of animals, which was kind of cool, but totally not worth the drive at night. 

If you can't tell, Jon had the camera for this leg of the trip. Redding was nice, but we wanted to hit the road again and get closer to home, so we headed out to Sacramento. We visited old sacramento and got some amazing garlic fries and a frozen chocolate banana on a stick. 

This bridge was gold. Not sure why. Because it's Sacramento and they can I guess. 

This was on a ferry that we went aboard and explored.

We went to downtown sacramento that night and hung around until dinner time. We ate at Gatsby's for lunch which was featured on Diners, Drive-in's and Dives. It was really good food. I had some swiss mushroom burgers and Jon had ruladen which was superb. 

The next morning we headed back home to get ready for our next adventure to China. The drive through Nevada, as many of you know was long and boring, but we survived and even stopped in Reno for dinner (at Denny's, nothing special). We were glad to be back home after such a long drive. 

The trip was amazing, and I would do it again and again. We loved seeing family and friends and we would like to thank those that we got to visit along the way for taking time out of their schedules and making this a memorable trip. It truely was amazing. 

Winston, OR

After our escapade in Portland, we headed out to Winston where we heard that there was a safari we could go through. We jumped on the opportunity. This post is picture intensive because I am such a biology nerd. Hope you enjoy!

This guy was cool. Really close and chewing away. 

The bears were getting fed, so they were actually up and active. When we drove by for a second time later in the day, they were all asleep.

Baby!

Two in one shot of a baby deer and a baby squirrel.

Grumpy deer, not as cool as grumpy cat, but we laughed.

Capybara

I forgot to mention that we got to ride camals. :) Pretty awesome. 

We loved this place, and we would suggest it to anyone. We loved how close you could get to the animals, and most of them were not enclosed in a cage. I thought that it was a much better set up than your normal zoo. We both loved the animals and the scenery.