Friday 29th May

Well - Amtrak lived up to it’s reputation this time as we didn’t arrive in Redding from Portland until 0350, one and a half hours late - a journey of 13 and a half hours (it takes 6 to drive!)

It was a very scenic journey climbing (slowly) through the Cascade Mountains but there were track works at the top and we literally crawled along for what must have been a couple of hours. At one stage we were running 2 hours late but did make up a bit of time. The views in the mountains were spectacular. The train was comfortable with loads of legroom, leg and foot rests and reclining seats, and everyone was given pillows to make sleeping more comfortable.

Terry relaxing on the train

The coach attendant was very pleasant and helpful, and on the ‘ground floor’ of our railway coach (we were seated upstairs) was a snack bar serving food and hot and cold drinks (no alcohol). The Dining Car served dinner and those who requested it were called at 15 minute intervals. We didn’t bother with that, having bought our own food with us.

At the top of the mountains the sky changed dramatically from daylight blue to dark storm clouds and the sun trying to shine through gave everything an eerie orange glow. We spent some time in the ‘lounge’ car with huge picture windows and glass in the roof. The lightning was spectacular

Me in the lounge car sporting my drastic hair cut!

The storm clouds - you can just see the blue sky disappearing behind the clouds

I think Terry grabbed a couple of hours interrupted sleep and I, as usual, catnapped.

Dorothy met us at Redding and took us to her friend, Kay’s. house were we were to stay for 3 nights and were made to feel very welcome. We fell into bed and slept until 9am.

We spent lunchtime at Dorothy’s son’s house as she had to meet her grandson from school, then in the afternoon we went in to see the huge Shasta Dam and then we went into Redding to show Terry the Sundial Bridge. I had seen it before, when I was here in 2006.

The temperature was 100 degrees so we did not spend much time there although Terry and I did walk across and back. It is a very graceful bridge and spans the Sacramento river. It really is a huge sundial.

It was far too hot to do anything else, so we returned to Stephen’s house where we had dinner and I had a welcome swim in his pool.