… cleaning up after a vacation is too much like work!

We got back from Mount Shasta Tuesday night about 8:30pm, but it was well after 11:00 by the time I’d unpacked, gone through 4 days worth of mail, and taken a shower. Wednesday we spent doing laundry and going through all the pictures that were taken on the trip … I think hubby took somewhere between 750 and 1000, but a lot of those were photos containing technical detail that he needs to work on his model railroad. Once the laundry got done, the fireworks were over (and the dog calmed down somewhat), I got some pics posted, and after hubby went to bed, I finally had a few minutes to jot down a few things about the trip.

We left Friday morning to head up to Mount Shasta and I was almost dreading the trip … not so much for the 600 mile drive, but because not only was Mercury retrograde (and still is) but the moon was full Saturday morning and we all know how insane drivers get the day or so before through the day after.  So I made up a little pouch for a bit of added protection.  Things went well on the trip … there was less traffic than expected and we actually got there in 9 ½ hours, including stops. The dinner train we like to ride on only runs Fridays and Saturdays in June, and since we were staying in Mount Shasta City (we usually stay in McCloud) hubby wanted a few pics of the train crossing one of the town’s streets, so we grabbed a quick bite at a burger joint and went to get him his pics.

Since we had plans to ride the train for dinner Saturday night, we spent the day in town shopping (well, I was shopping, hubby ran off to take more pics ) and I found a bunch of goodies for myself and my daughter. In my favorite crystal shop, I found a gorgeous chunk of epidote and a nice aragonite cluster. In another shop I found some tumbled celestite! I’ve never seen any celestite that’s been tumbled anywhere, so I was on cloud nine. At my last stop I found a bunch of gemstone beads to add to my stock for making rosaries, prayer chains and necklace/earring sets. Hubby wasn’t too thrilled with the cost, but he got over it later.

Dinner in the train was wonderful as usual, and it is just so cool rolling through the forest while eating on a train.  At one point hubby had been in the back of the train taking some pics and talking to the conductor, and when he came back he told me that we’d been invited (by the conductor) to ride up in the engine for a while. (we’ve been on the train at least 10 times over the last 10 years and most of the staff recognize us) Need I mention that hubby was like a kid in a toy store? The engineer even let him blow the whistle at a couple of crossings.

Sunday we had just planned to run around visiting some interesting areas, but after talking to the conductor on the train, hubby talked me into going over to Yreka in the morning to ride yet another train.   I almost declined because of the heat (I don’t do well if I get too hot) but when they mentioned that this train was doggie friendly, I couldn’t pass up the chance to see what Cindy would do on a train. It was too much fun to watch her watch the ground or passing buildings … she’s very smart and has a lot of curiosity. This train runs from Yreka to Montegue, and at the stop for lunch they switch the caboose and engine at a switching yard. Well, the conductor (same fellow from the dinner train) invited hubby to ride in the steam engine while they moved things around. I asked him later if it was worth what I spent on crystals to get to ride in not only one, but two engines … of course he said yes!

After we left the train in Yreka, we headed off to some spots hubby wanted to visit to take more pics and collect some dirt (for use on his model railroad). I love playing on dirt roads anyway, so it was kind of fun figuring out where to go. Once he was done, we went to the first of our interesting spots. Basically, we decided to FINALLY truly explore the Mount Shasta area. I knew it was a big metaphysical area, but I had no idea how big ... there are at least a dozen sacred Native American sites around there and quite a few have water sources, so all the areas I picked to go to were sacred sites that had bodies of water where I could scoop some up into little bottles to take home. Our first spot was McCloud Falls on the McCloud River. It’s such a wonderfully peaceful spot. And the dog loves to splash around in the water, so she had fun too. We got a little surprise when we got back to the truck … there were three deer grazing near the parking area.

Monday we spent driving around to a few other spots. First we drove up onto Mount Shasta to visit Panther Meadows. This site is still used by the local Native Americans for rituals and it was so peaceful sitting in the sun on the warm damp earth, with my hand in a natural spring and the breeze blowing around me.   After leaving the meadows, we drove the rest of the way up (as far as the road went) just to see where the road ended and got some great shots of the top of Mount Shasta. Then we went down into the valley to see Pluto Caves. Very awesome … not so much their looks (I’ve been in much prettier caves) but the energy in them was fantastic. The hike in and back was a killer since it was between 85° and 90°, but it was worth the effort.  Plus, we had a little visitor there as well ... a Western Tiger Swallowtail butterfly was sitting on one of the rocks at the cave mouth.

After we left the caves, we went back and picked up the dog (we’d left her “home” for the first two spots since she was tired from the day before and I really didn’t want to have to keep track of her in case I wanted to just veg or meditate for a little while) and then headed to Medicine Lake. So she played in the water a bit and I got some more water to take home.  I also grabbed up a few pieces of lava from the road up to the Medicine Lake area and found a small driftwood branch on the beach that will make a nice little wand.  And when we got back to the house, I found that the walnut tree out back had dropped a branch I was looking at earlier, so I can make 2 wands.

Tuesday morning we packed up the truck and headed over to Castle Lake before heading home. It’s a gorgeous alpine lake that shares a “wall” with the Castle Crags (an interesting formation on the other side of one of the peaks in the area). There were some beautiful bright blue dragonflies swarming around the trail near the lake and water striders looking for morsels on the water. Cindy got a little pick-me-up playing in the water while I collected some from there and then we headed home. And again, no where near as much traffic as I had expected so we had a mostly uneventful drive home as well … and we did it in 9 ½ hours that way too.

Now I need to take the truck in for maintenance since our 1500+ miles over the 5 days puts me over the point where I should have had an oil change. Sigh … back to the mundane stuff. At least we got some R&R and I feel back to my old self and not so stressed.

Ok, I read half of this, then it started thundering. I'm going to have to read the rest tomorrow, or after the storms have passed. :)

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