Shasta Lake, Whiskeytown lake

We had not planned anything in advance for this Memorial Day, so we decided to drive up north to Shasta lake a couple of weeks before.

On the first day, we went to Shasta caverns, a very interesting first time experience, where you see formations formed by dripping water over a long period of time. Stalactite and Stalagmite are two examples of forms growing from the ceiling and from the floor respectively, and they meet after thousands of years. This tour also included a boat tour on the lake and a bus ride to reach the caverns. Next, we went to Shasta Dam where they gave us a tour, took us down into the dam. We were surrounded by more than 50 feet of concrete on three sides. The tour was very informative, and we saw the simple hydroelectric production theory in action out there. More interesting was how the dam was built. For example, they produced the concrete in an onsite location, then moved it using a pulley system to form concrete slabs, which in turn were used for construction. Also, they had to reroute the river in the meantime. The dam produces 1KWH in 2 cents. We pay around 15 cents for that when it comes to our house. In the evening, we went to the Sundial Bridge. Built by a Spanish architect a few years back, its a pedestrian bridge made of glass on the Sacramento river. Really beautiful, especially when its lit up in white light at night.

The second day was for activities. We went down to Whiskeytown lake and hung out at the beach. We were in the water for a long time, played a board game, and finally rented a powerboat which we drove like crazy on the lake. The boat touches 45 mph, and Anu probably made turns at that speed, throwing us off. Fun times.

Yosemite NP

I have been to Yosemite on Labor Day weekend in Sep. 2004, but I must say that Yosemite is much more beautiful in early spring, when the waterfalls are fuller. We did pretty much the same things we did before, but the water made all the difference. We went to Vernal Falls hike and to a bridge above gushing water about .5 miles from there on the way to Nevada Falls. In the spring, the Vernal falls hike will soak you wet due to the mist from the gushing water. We saw Yosemite falls, Bridal Veil falls both full with water. We also went to the tunnel lookout this time, it has a comparable view as the top of Glacier point, and I would suggest checking it out rather than drive up to Glacier point. We also took a trail to Mirror Lake, which is more like a marsh than a lake.