Lost My Identity- Kai's Ma'ma: Big Machinery at the Logging Museum and Reminiscing our Mt. Shasta climb (old pictures)

01 June 2007, Friday
We really would have liked to have walked along the Williamson River at Colliers State Park but the mosquitos were in flight this morning. So we decided to pack it up and see the Logging Museum on the way out.

Kai ducks as daddy (in bed overhead) is swinging away with a fly swatter.

Kai is the first to enter the Logging Museum.

Kai is soooo small next to this huge wagon wheel. The wheel towers above my head!
We start off with the wagons and equipment made of wood and leather...

We are so watchful of Kai. I think it's ok that he plays on train tracks?
...and work up to machines made of metal and wood.

Followed by the more heavy duty stuff such as this steam locomotive...

Kai likes to play on train tracks, so why ruin his moment?

...and to the more advanced machinery used to transport logs.

The sign tells the rules about the Homestead Law.

If the settler was able to build his cabin, till the land, and live there for 5-years with two witnesses to prove he met the requirements and paid all fees, the US Government would give the settler the title to 160 acres which he established his home.

There were several small and authentic cabins on display. We peered through the windows of a grocery store, a doctor's office/evaluation room, a smokehouse, a fur trappers home, and an outhouse. The doctor's quarters made me cringe, especially after seeing their evaluation table, which I am certain they have used it for surgeries...and we know how surgery was back then...give the patient a few shots of whiskey, strap him down, and put a stick in his mouth while being worked on. I am so glad I did not live in that era! Or did I? Maybe that's whey I use treatment tables all the time for my patients...whom they are convinced I like to inflict pain. Part of my job as a physiotherapist, you know?

We continue on south on 97 and pass through Klamath Falls. I had it in my mind this place will have beautiful falls to greet you. WRONG! All I got was this stinky lake with bird crap all over the place, which I stepped on. I would have panicked if Kai fell into the water with all that gucky algae and God-knows-what floating in there. We couldn't even get a decent cup of coffee in this town. The town really needs to change their name as it's quite deceptive.

Back on the road, we head towards Mt. Shasta which grows in size as we drive south. We cross the border to California and into the Shasta region and I am mesmerized by its beauty with its snow top and in the foreground are fields of yellow flowers, which really intensifies its beauty.

Greg and I reminisce our ascent up Mt. Shasta in 1997 when we reached the summit. When asked if he would do it again and maybe with Kai, Greg responded "Hell no! I won't do that again!"

It really was quite painful...carrying a loaded backpack of about 25-30 pounds and through deep snow, wearing ice crampons strapped to your boots, practicing falls off a steep snowhill and stopping yourself by slamming an ice axe into the snow, trying again when you slip...

Arleen practices falls with her ice axe.

...eating cold food, trying to pee without freezing your a-- off, spending a night in a tent with others huddling for warmth, all the while worrying that the wind may blow you and the tent downhill, running out of water and realizing that the snow you packed in your canister is not melting fast enough to quench your thirst, traversing steep inclines...

Greg still smiling?

...thinking you summited when you didn't (extreme disappointment- they called this part Misery Hill), and stopping every 10 steps...5 steps...3 steps...to a miserable 1-step pace- just to catch your breath as you reach the summit...

...but when you do summit...it's breath-taking!

Arleen and Greg (Pre-Kai)

...and you can't help but yell at the top of your lungs in sheer joy...only to have to stop and catch your breath again... so would I do it again?

You betcha! All 14,161-feet of it!

Having said all that, (whew!) we camp at Castle Crags State Park. It's really hot here and we stop at the local store and buy a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream which disappears in no time! I notice these huge black flies hovering about making intimidating noises. I originally thought it to be horseflies, but these things were huge- later to find out they were carpenter bees. UGH! Ugly things...they live in dead wood and it was the males hovering about irritated of our presence, but harmless (stinger-free). It is the female carpenter bee that has the painful stinger but hangs around her nest. Wish I had gotten a picture of them, but I was too busy eating ice cream.

Kai shovels leaves into a bucket. Picture of Kai with the numerous mosquito bites on his forehead. Geez, he looks like he has chicken pox!

To pass the time in this heat, we decided to hike to a nearby stream but only after going under the highway, over the train tracks, and across a suspended wood-planked bridge.