Walk In The Woods

Friends of ours were staying in a cabin in Mineral, a CDP (census-designated place) in Tehama County (about 200 miles from the Oregon border) over the long President's Day weekend in February which happened to include Valentine's Day. Since the husband and I were not in the habit of celebrating Heart's Day, we decided to join them for a day, since it's the gal pal's birthday.

Mineral is a few shakes away from Lassen National Forest and Lassen Volcanic NP. I was hoping to find any snow, but since there was a preceding precipitation drought for 3 weeks, I wasn't betting on seeing any white stuff. The friends have told us there's a little bit left over from the last snowstorm. From San Francisco, Mineral is a 3.5-hour-drive.

We shared a meal for her simple birthday celeb and then drove about 5 minutes to the "hiking" spot. And to my suprise, the "little snow" was enough to make my winter. I couldn't ask for more.

There were a few people out and about, but I felt like I had the place all to ourselves. The doggie was definitely having a ball.

Afterwards, I asked to drive about another 5 minutes to Lassen Volcanic NP because I haven't seen it yet. We did not go in since it was quite late and we had to drive back to the Bay Area. This was a trip that wasn't a sure thing until the last minute, that's why I wasn't able to arrange for a cat sitter (fostering one right now); hence, the need to go back home.