Mt Shasta, Sacramento, Oakland, and San Francisco

It turned out that Oscar's ultimate destination for us was Sacramento, CA. We've talked about moving to northern California one day, and he'd never been there before. It's an appealing option for us since I love being near the ocean, he likes the climate, I like the various small opera halls, he likes the innovative technology based out of Silicon valley, and we both have family there (I was actually born in Napa, CA). So Oscar thought it would be a good idea to check it out before we put serious thought into moving. Our first pretty site on our way down from Easter Oregon was Mt. Shasta. It actually has 4 active volcanoes, though you can't see them all from this angle. "Little Mt Shasta" is the one that looks like a cancerous growth coming off the right side.

Oscar loves flat stretches of scenery like this one. We went canoeing the day after we arrived in Sacramento. We're pretty sure these ladies were an Olympic (or aspiring Olympic) rowing team. They were really good. It was much harder than it looks, but it was fun. Your arms just get so tired of constantly doing the same thing. I work out a lot, but it's my legs that have built up endurance from running and other aerobic exercise. My arm endurance is not good at all.

Later that day Oscar took me to a really fun mini-golf place called Golf Land. Both courses were awesome with some really unique obstacles. Plus they decorated for Halloween, which I thought was awesome!

And...they even had a waterpark with what looked like really fun slides. They were closed for the season, but I want to go back to play more mini golf and go to the waterpark. I liked this knight in the arcade. He was HUGE! We met up in Walnut Creek with Oscar's uncle Dale, aunt Kay, and their kids. Next we went up to the beautiful Oakland temple and visitors' center. The view is awesome, thought admittedly better on a clear, sunny day.

Next we went into San Francisco and took some pics from Treasure Island. I've been to SF many times, but I've only been to treasure island once while I was there for High School A'Cappella choir tour. There's a great view of Alcatraz from there. Our last stop took us to Golden Gate park. I love the unique vegetation in the park. It was too late to go into the botanical garden, but it was pretty from the outside. I really like the landscaping. I went there several times with my sister when she lived within walking distance of the park. She and I rented a surrey for the day. I really missed it since Oscar and I got tired very quickly just from walking around this enormous park. I laughed when I saw this bench "nice bench 2." All the benches in the area were named after families who'd made donations to the park. This bench, and apparently another one (nice bench 1), were donated by the "nice" family. My favorite things to see in the park were the beautiful busts of Beethoven and Verdi.

Salt Creek Falls and Odell Butte Lookout

A couple of weekends ago, Oscar took me for a surprise road trip. I knew we were going on a road trip, but he gave me no idea where we were going. He would just tell me various cities to put into the GPS, even if we never stopped at them, so I would just be surprised the whole way through. Fortunately, Oscar's knows what I like, and our first stop took us to beautiful Salt Creek Falls - Oregon's 2nd highest waterfall.

It was also quite scenic just across from the falls. It was sunny, but cold. Oscar was too cold to pose accurately for this picture. I was fine with the exception of my feet. I wear sandals as long as I possibly can. I'd brought shoes in case we had to hike, but especially on a road trip, I like the freedom of kicking my shoes off when I want to. Our next stop took us to Odell lake. And Crescent lake. When you view it from the Odel lookout, you can make out the crescent shape pretty well.

Oscar really liked how crystal clear the water was. It took us awhile to find, and a bit of frustration when we didn't think we would ever find it, but we saw a tiny sign that led us to the Odell Butte lookout. After a lot of windy driving, there's a gate that cars can't pass, so we had to hike a little less than a mile up the the top where a ranger watches for forest fires. And these are the gorgeous views from the top.

Oscar's Leavenworth 1/2 Marathon

Oscar had originally intended to run a full marathon in Leavenworth, but after running his first 1/2, he decided he'd rather improve his time than extend his run. This was the last 1/2 marathon he could do before the cold weather came, and fortunately it was a perfect day. It was cool enough in the morning that he wasn't too hot, and then the rest of the day was perfect for a tour around Leavenworth during Oktoberfest. Due to Oktoberfest traffic, I had no hope of seeing Oscar anywhere but at the finish line. He always runs so hard at the end that he has to walk it off after it's over. Next we went on into downtown to celebrate Oktoberfest in this cute German town. But unfortunately, it's all about beer. In Park City, UT, they have dancing and games and other fun Oktoberfest things in addition to the beer, so I was a bit disappointed by the lack of festivities. At least this wagon was cute. Did I mention it was a beautiful day? Fortunately, we found a really cool mini golf course. It's all grass, and it looks beautiful. It must be expensive to maintain. At first I thought it was a pitch and putt, but it was a full blown mini-golf course, and it was fairly difficult. I won against Oscar by only 1 stroke. There was a random goat in the hills that attracted everyone's attention. I just enjoyed seeing a pretty course while doing one of our favorite tourist activities. And I liked that you could walk behind their waterfall before returning your clubs.