Recently, I took a trip I have wanted to for a long time.

Call it a whirlwind trip of “upper” Northern California from soaring redwoods along rugged coastlines to imposing volcanoes with man’s touches in between. 

It’s where relatively few venture.

Now that I have someone to accompany me, I figured why not. 

The first stop was an old Shasta County Jail in Anderson, built in 1910 and used as a drunk tank for local offenders.

 It was reconstructed under the Works Progress Administration and continued in use until the 1950s. 

Next on the itinerary was a few miles north in Mt. Shasta City Park, where the headwaters of the Sacramento River bubble out of the side of a mountain. Then pictures of Mt. Shasta, Black Butte and then to our home for the night in a caboose at Railroad Flats in Dunsmuir, someplace I have always wanted to stay and I was not disappointed.

After dinner and breakfast with my brother under the shadow of Castle Crags in Castella, the next stop was an observation point where the three Shastas – dam, lake and mountain – are visible at once. On to the Sundial Bridge in Redding and Old Shasta, where sadly the museum was closed, as was the Joss House Chinese temple in Weaverville. 

A stop at my happy place was next – the ocean at Samoa. 

I could sit there for hours. 

We stayed that night at the Eagle House Inn in Old Town in Eureka. The Eagle House Inn is an opulent four-story hotel built in 1866.

Our destination the next day was Ft. Bragg, with a detour through the mill town of Scotia and observing the original company housing, smaller dwellings for the workers and larger for the bosses. 

A beautiful drive through the towering redwoods on the Avenue of the Giants was next, and then on to Ft. Bragg.

Sadly, the plans for the next day washed away as it started to rain heavily, precluding sightseeing in Ft. Bragg. 

But all in all, it was a wonderful trip.