Out there in Redding
JUST A THOUGHT: ‘Happiness is very simple: someone to love, something to do, something to look forward to’ —Rita Mae Brown
WHERE IS REDDING:
People ask me, with surprise in their eyes, “You’re going to Redding? Where is that? What are you going to do there?”
Up there, close to the skies, in Northern California, I say.
The drive to Redding, part of Shasta county, takes about 4.5 hours from San Francisco. Past Sacramento in the mid-afternoon, one navigates through endless stretches of open fields left and right of freeways and highways. These are planted to corn, rice, almond, pecan, whatnot, and other nuts.
We ride in an eight-seater van with our cousin Corsini Templado on the wheels, stopping by Rolling Hills Casino in Corning for a bit of rest and pee. The 24-hour sprawling casino in the middle of yet another open field offers huge buffets and free coffee and sodas.
A sucker for anything free, I hurriedly pour some hot coffee into a cup. I burn my tongue as I sip absentmindedly. I lose my taste buds momentarily.
That’s fine, I say, as I have just had a big buffet dinner of lobster and ribs at Jackson Casino Rancheria, another casino that we visited along the way, nearer to
Sacramento. The burnt taste buds could save me excess cholesterol from future meals, I figure.
We get back into the van, all seven of us, including Lulu (Dr. Corsini’s wife), their son Chester, Cecile, Isabella, and Jao, re-energized like contented cows. The van proceeds in the dark of night as we pass by downtown Redding on the way to Palo Cedro, a tiny rural village where the Templados live.
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U.S. SMALL TOWN LIFE:
Early morning the next day, we set out for breakfast at a country-style café in Palo Cedro town. The town itself is bare, very peaceful, has little or no traffic, dotted with a few shops, the largest among which is Holiday supermarket. We get our supplies.
Signs and symbols of small town life are all over the place in both Palo Cedro and Redding, the last major city on the northern coast of California before reaching Oregon. Streets, big and small, echo that romantic, idyllic rural ambience.
In Palo Cedro, some streets are called Little Cow Creek, Friendship, Corning. Students gather in a campus called Cow North High School.
A local steak house goes by the name Dry Creek Station. In a park on a Saturday morning, advertised is a tractor and pull show. Get the drift?
I imagine myself inside films like “Places In The Heart,” “The Bridges
Of Madison County” or “Color Purple.” I ask quietly: “Why don’t they make movies like these anymore?”
On the way up to the sprawling, mountaintop resort-like home of the Templados, we are greeted by signs fronting homes that read, “Sweet watermelons for sale.” It isn’t uncommon for a family of deer or wild turkey to cross our path even as a flock of black hawk vultures hover above us.
GREAT OUTDOORS:
Redding is a quiet little town bursting with natural beauty. There’s beauty everywhere you look, and so much to do outdoors, such as hiking or biking.
Residents take pride in their Sundial Bridge (a hanging bridge), Turtle Bay Exploration Park, Whiskeytown Lake, Lake Shasta, Shasta Dam, Sacramento River
Trail, and many other parks, waterfalls and biking trails.
Northern California is rich in mining and railroad history. Old mining and rail routes make the foundation of many of the trails for which Redding is known for.
Lulu wonders if we’d like to explore the caves somewhere near. Cecile expresses her fear of snakes lurking. Instead, we settle for the more relaxing boating along Whiskeytown Lake one fine day, thank you.