Sundial Bridge

One of the fairly nearby attractions that I had planned to visit was the Sundial Bridge in Redding, CA. And even though I tried to schedule adventures at least two days of every week, I didn't get time to see everything. So I decided to see the bridge during one of the two trips I had to make to Malheur to haul all my junk.

And of course, I wanted the lighting good for pictures.  I first came past it in the dark, then in the early afternoon and finally made it to the bridge just before dawn.

The lighting makes for a gorgeous view at night

The floor is made of glass to let light pass to the river below to help spawning salmon

The bridge is part of a wonderful, thirty-five mile long, trail system that goes along the Sacramento River on both sides and takes one to the Shasta Dam.  Since it was too dark for pictures and since I had a ten hour drive still ahead of me, I decided to get in a little walk. I walked out for about one and a quarter miles. By this time it was light enough to read and I was reading the various trail signs. I got to one with a picture of eagles and a telescope next to it.  It told of an eagle's nest right there in urban Redding, CA.  I scanned the trees in front of me with the scope and found an eagle sitting on a nest, with a slough and an apartment complex in the background.

Almost sunrise over the Sacramento River.

It was rapidly getting light, so I worked my way back, only getting distracted by pictures a few times. Then I took pictures of the bridge from both sides of the river.  

Canada geese at sunrise on the Sacramento River

Early morning shot looking upstream to the Sundial Bridge

Just before lights out on the bridge

A closer view of the sundial

Beautiful geometry

View from the bridge of Mt. Shasta Bally and gulls

The bridge was built by Santiago Calatrava. He is both an architect and a sculptor.  The pictures of his work are breathtaking. So, if you are into beautiful architecture, check out his works.

But the bridge is not a stand-alone attraction.  It is part of the Turtle Bay Exploration Park, which also has a museum and the McConnell Arboretum and Botantical Gardens. I couldn't wait until the museum opened but saw a man opening the gates to the garden.  I asked him if I could visit the gardens and he said yes.  So I got to see it in beautiful morning light, rather than after 9:00 A.M. This is a very young garden and it was also mostly dormant but looks like it has great possibilities to show people how to have a beautiful, but sustainable garden without using too much water or herbicides and fertilizers.

And this is a very birdy place and should be particular wonderful during spring migration. Besides the nesting eagle,  robins were moving all over the ground and giving their fussy calls.  They were joined by spotted towees.  Yellow-rumped warblers were singing. Canada geese and ducks - buffleheads, common mergansers, ruddy ducks - were swimming in the river. Gulls were there in great numbers. I could hear the Chi-CA-go calls of a flock of California quail and the hunting call of a red-tail hawk.  An Allen's hummingbird was sitting at the entrance to the garden and then started feeding on red, tubular flowers while I watched. When I noted the location, I found that I was walking into a bird sanctuary.

This is definitely a wonderful place to visit. Bring your hiking shoes, bike and binoculars,  and take a ride to the Shasta Dam and enjoy the birds.Visit the museum and the gardens. Bring your lunch or eat in the museum cafe.

A Trip to Shangri La

Dry Cypress Swamp View

 Wednesday was a day that started at the car dealership to fix a recall on my car,   and ended up in Shangri La - Shangri La Botantical Gardens and Nature Center. I had to figure how to get my car to the dealership - about thirty-five miles away from where I live.  I invited my friend, Natalie, to visit me and spend the day in Beaumont, Texas. She immediately agreed and said she had been wanting to visit a few places there.  I let her pick the places, with the agreement that she would first collect me from the dealership where I would take my car.

So last Tuesday evening she, her daughter, Ellen, her dog Zootie, and her cat, Angie, that acts like a dog, and is a great traveler, all arrived at my trailer. She had brought the cat so she could set off bombs in the house to kill an infestation of ticks.

Next morning, I left very early, and then Natalie and Ellen collected me from the dealership a few hours after I arrived.  We found Shangri La was actually in Orange, Texas, another seventeen miles or so, so we set out.  We weren't expecting anything much and were surprised to find a huge, beautifully landscaped parking lot. Then we took the path through the woods to the main buildings and were awed at their beauty.  The first building was a children's nature center and it had a pond in front of it with quite large native fish in the clear water.

One of the fish in the pond in front of the Children's Nature Center

The grounds are adjacent to Adams Bayou, a stream I've been meaning to paddle for a couple of decades. We found we could take a boat ride on the bayou that would leave in a few minutes, so we bought our tickets and went to find the landing. Beauty was all around. The main flowers blooming were Texas Star Hibiscus and Spider Lillies.

Texas Star Habiscus

Spider Lillies

There was a great little nature explorium that we checked out, along with a horde of kids on a field trip. Soon it was time to meet our guide and learn about the bayou, the grounds, and the educational "rooms" that were along the bayou.

On the boat listening to our guide

One of the many banana spiders we saw

Most of the buildings we saw looked brand new. We learned that they were. The place took heavy damage from Hurricane Rita and some damage from Ike.  I think some fifty thousand trees had been destroyed by Rita and Ike. The foundation  brought in a saw mill and made the lumber to rebuild.  The buildings are now mostly out of cypress and are really beautiful and need no finish on them.  The gardens are now mostly in the sun and I saw many understory plants burning up.

 One of my favorite things on the boat trip was getting to learn the difference between pond cypress and bald cypress. Then we were amazed at the champion pond cypress tree we got to meet.

Champion Pond Cypress - some 1200 years old

We really enjoyed the trip but were starving when we got back on land,  so ate a lovely lunch of sandwiches before starting to explore the gardens and the rookery.  The gardens consisted of extensive grounds, surrounded by small garden rooms containing large art pieces and  were tended by various garden clubs.  There was also a wonderful vegetable/flower garden in raised beds and several greenhouses containing orchids, bromeliads, and other tropical plants.

We spent several minutes just enjoying the  bench under the gazebo out in the middle of the large pond where the atmosphere was all shady peace. We finished by walking to the rookery and enjoying the few great egrets, cattle egrets and roseate spoonbills that were still nesting. Even with the heat, we had a wonderful four hours there.

Swamp View

Bormeliad

Pot People sitting in the vegetable garden

Natalie with cestrum and bells at the beginning of the botantical garden

Natalie and Ellen in the Gardens

Formal Gardens

Pond and Gazebo

Another view of garden

Baby Roseate Spoonbills in the rookery

This is a marvelous place and deserving of more visits.