Kayla's Birthday Road Trip!

I rushed home after work last Friday the 24th so that Kayla and I could commence our road trip. Of course, given our >3,000 mile road trip a mere 7 or so months ago, we weren't overwhelmed at the prospect of driving more than 20 hours in 2.5 days. We were on the road by 5:30, following my long lost cousin, SOZ, close behind! We got to Redding late after a drive full of city lights and epic car tunes (no but really, getcha back up off the wall.)

We woke up early on Saturday and made our way to Burney Falls. The drive was only an hour, but we stopped at a vista point. Kayla was happy, apparently I was pensive about something....





At the national park, there was a simple 1.2 mile loop around the waterfall, home to breathtaking views, and a nice refreshing mist. It was an easy stop, but definitely beautiful. (Note to interested parties: no, I did not fall and hurt my ankle) Kayla is looking adorable at the start of the hike, at our first peek at the waterfall.

The view from the bottom....

I swear, I'm in this picture. It is my Daddy's birthday, and he ALWAYS ventures down to the edge of a waterfall pool. Thus, I had to do the same....







The view from the top revealed the river at the foot of the waterfall. Very pretty. Please don't judge the face I am making in the center photo... other ones had an actual smile, but didn't capture the backdrop as well!

We then continued on to Mt Shasta, where some long needed winter time snow awaited us. Can you make out the mountain in the white sky?

Eventually we made it to the top of the mountain, where we had some fun in the snow (we only needed to drive 6500ft up a mountain to finally find some). Kayla ventured farther up the ice and snow, but I opted to defend my castle. Um, the black and white picture? Yeah, I can't explain. It was windy, my hair was attacking Kayla, and I clearly didn't have the slightest clue. Much laughter ensued, and I felt the need to share the event with you all :)

By now it is pretty late in the day, so we set out to Medford for the night. In Medford we have a romantic italian dinner for two for Kayla's birthday. It was quite perfect. The conversation was great, the food was great, and the company couldn't be better. I don't know what guys complain about, planning dates isn't hard...

 

There are just so many pictures I would like to post, please don't mind. Gosh, living in California is great. We are so close to so many places. Mountains, trees, snow? All close to beach, sun, and city?

Anyhoo, we woke up on Sunday to go Crater Lake. Turns out, Crater Lake is closed, but we didn't realize this until we were 3 miles away from the top of the volcano. Oops.

But the drive was awesome. In fact, there was quite the abundance of snow. ...and no, I am not decapitated. Just short (...but I'm healthy, yeah!)

On the way back from the disappointment of a closed Crater Lake, Kayla and I stopped at Lost Creek Lake, part of the Joshua Stewart Recreation area (or so I just found out according to Google). 

It was surprisingly gorgeous. Kayla frolicked (yes. frolicked.) out to a distant point and I took a lot of neat pictures of her from afar. I tried to capture the reflection in the water, but it was a difficult task. We chose our rocks to add to our collection, and explored the area before having to head back home.

 

It's about now I'd like to give a shout out to my car, Benjamin. He drove at least 1400miles in less than 3 days, in over 6500ft of elevation, snow, ice, and gravel. He battled with trucks, got covered in dirt, and basically kicked ass.

Eventually, we started the 8 hour car ride back to Santa Clara. The sun was setting, I was amazingly exhausted, but all in all it was quite the successful birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLA! You are the best roommate I could ever ask for. Thank you for moving to California with me. Our friendship is one of my biggest accomplishment from college :D