Great View=Bad Owie

We had plans to hike the 4 waterfalls in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area today. Whiskeytown (GOTTA love that name!) is about 12 miles due west of Redding. Really pretty mountain drive out to the park and as we turned into the visitor center to buy our pass this is the sight that greeted us...

We drove completely around Whiskey Lake to access the trails to the first two waterfalls. The first was a "warm-up" hike of about a half mile one way to Crystal Creek Falls, appropriately named because the creek was, in fact, crystal clear. I wanted to drink the ice-cold water from the base of the falls.

After the brief hike back to BB we drove up the road to hike the 220ft Whiskeytown Falls, just "discovered" by a google earth map in the 80's. We got about 200 yards (of a 1.7 mile hike) down the path when Jeff slipped, skidded, or something and twisted his ankle, aggravating an already sour heel. He was immediately incapacitated and in a lot of pain. He really had to struggle back to the BB, limping and hopping the whole way. That was one long 200 yards. We inspected the ankle for any apparent injury (there was none) and put his foot on an ice pack.  Bravely, he decided we could continue with, at least, a vehicle tour of the park so we drove around Whiskeytown Lake and had our picnic at a beautiful beach area.

After a good picnic lunch, one shared beer (Sinister from 10 Barrel), and a smoke...we headed home so Jeff could get his foot up on ice and down a bottle of Ibuprofen. Being the good wife that I am, I made sure he had all he needed (TV remote and such) and left him to do a solo tour and a teeny bit of shopping (remember the TJ Maxx iin Redding?). I also found a World Market that graciously had my Klinker Brick on sale as well as a warehouse liquor store called Bev Mo that had Jeff's fav Cascade Lakes beer. 
You know, by the way I write about alcohol every other sentence. you'd probably think that all Jeff and I do is drink. Well, not really. But we are enjoying the local beers and wines of the Pacific Northwest, that I admit. Anyway, I was gone a couple hours and had a chance to see alittle more of Redding. I stand by my first impression of this town. It is extremely unattractive. This LONG boulevard that led to TJ was just a compilation of every chain hotel, store and restaurant you could name. I was keeping my eye out for a place to maybe go have dinner one night and, honestly, unless we wanted an Applebee's, Marie Callander's, or Taco Bell....forget it. Nothing good to say about Redding. It's just....boring. And definately not Bend.

Tomorrow we had planned on going to a winery and wild horse refuge as well as Lavaland National Park but we will have to see how Jeff's foot is feeling. By the way....I thought of a good drinking game for anyone reading our blog (here I go again). Every time I write "beautiful", "gorgeous" or "beer"....take a drink. Then y'all will catch up with Jeff and I !!!!