Pit stops in North California

After Yosemite we headed north and had a couple of overnight stops before staying in Grants Pass, Oregon for a week. Our first stop was in Woodlands, CA right outside of Sacramento. We stayed at a fairgrounds and it was actually pretty nice for just a quick one night. After we set up, we went into town to get new hiking boots and got dinner. I realized after Yosemite that I needed some better boots for hiking. We went to REI and I tried on a bunch. I am obsessed with my OBoz. If you are looking for some great hiking boots- you must try them.

The next day we headed to northern Redding, CA. It was SO pretty. The RV Park we stayed at was so cute, Mountain Gate RV Park. The scenery driving there was beautiful and as we were looking for things in the area we realized we were pretty close to Lassen National Park. Truthfully, we had never heard of this one. We had the afternoon, so decided to take the drive over to see it. We continued to see such beautiful scenery on the drive. We drove in to learn that a lot of the park was still closed due to ice and snow. I was so surprised by this ( being that it’s like 90 back home in Florida ) but it was really cool to see some snow. We decided that we needed to build a snowman. We met a sweet family while we were there and they told us about Burney Falls. It was about 45 minutes from where we were, but they told us it was worth it. So off to Burney Falls we went- and we were so glad we did. It was a really nice fall.

We drove back to our site and met a wonderful couple, Anthony, Nancy and their dog, Nugget that were camping right across from us. We got to chatting with them and they shared that they are fairly new to camping and really enjoying it. They lost their beautiful, 16 year old daughter to cancer 6 months ago. 💔🦋 There are no words that I can say to them or type on here that can make that make any sense or make any of that unimaginable hurt go away. But, I will say that we are so grateful to have met them and that they shared some of their story and their beautiful daughter with us. They will be starting a foundation in her name and I will be sharing this out and participating any way we can once it’s ready. 🦋♥️

Through our trip and sharing our story we have come to realize more and more that there are a lot of people going through lots of things. You just never know, and it definitely puts things into prospective. A constant reminder to be grateful for every. little. thing.

A reminder to always be kind and gracious to others.

Find joy wherever you can. Love hard. ♡