California & Oregon Road Trip Planning - Mt. Shasta

"Every hundred feet the world change." -Robert Bolano

We're so looking forward to exploring the beautiful landscapes of Mt. Shasta, an experience that's been on my bucket list for way too long. Once we leave Lassen Park, we are planning to stop by McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park.

Courtesy of California State Park, 2015

Burney Falls Park was once described by Teddy Roosevelt as "the eighth wonder of the world". One of the most visually stunning waterfalls in the state, Burney Falls is a fern draped, 129 foot tall cascade of pure water power. The park sits on the eastern edge of the Cascade Range, between magnificent Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak.

There are 5 miles of hiking trails that wind through the park's beautiful evergreen forests. There are 3 main trails that lead from the falls; The Burney Creek Trail, the Falls Loop Trail, and the Headwaters Loop Trail, all starting near the park's visitor's center. There are tons of activities to enjoy in the park, too many to mention here. To explore your options, visit page 4 of this link.

Now on to Mt. Shasta
Spectacular mountain vistas and pristine alpine lakes make Mt. Shasta the most idyllic destination in the country, presenting a "fairy tale" like vision, dominating the northern California landscape. Mt. Shasta is awe inspiring, at an incredible 14,179 feet.

Photo by Zengame

Submitting the mountain is left to the most experienced climbers who can also enlist the services of local, highly trained guides. You definitely don't need to be a world class hiker to enjoy this breathtaking paradise. No trails lead up Mount Shasta, but there are many that provide access to the wilderness around the foot of the mountain. There are plenty of easy, maintained trails (27.8 miles in all) that loop through the area, taking you through gorgeous meadows filled with wildflowers and lush green forests. One of the prettiest trails in the area is an easy, 2-mile path that takes you along McCloud River, located on the mountains south side. This trail leads you to 3 beautiful waterfalls with Middle Falls being most visitors' all-time favorite.

Additional Activities in Mt Shasta
There's an endless list of exceptional outdoor activities to enjoy in Mount Shasta including camping, caverns to explore, fly fishing and skiing during the winter months at the Mt. Shasta Ski Park, located on the mountain's western slope.
 
Shasta Lake
Shasta Lake is a home to a wealth of unique recreational pursuits. You can watch bald eagles soar through the air as you fish, explore its many coves and rent a luxurious houseboat - basically, no visit to Shasta Lake needs to be the same.

photo by psyber artist

Renting a houseboat makes it easy to explore the state's premier reservoir, something everyone should try once. A typical summer day on the lake finds the impossibly blue waters dotted with jet skis, fishing boats, houseboats and just about anything else that floats. The nearly 370 miles of shoreline wrap around tranquil coves, the perfect places to drop anchor and relax, maybe do a little fishing for sturgeon, crappie, catfish or bass. You can rent houseboats from resorts and marinas around the lake, ranging from high end to more affordable models.

Another worthy activity at the lake would be taking a free tour of 602-foot Shasta Dam, the second largest concrete dam in the United States. You can also take a guided tour of the Lake Shasta Caverns, an intriguing underground world (over 250 million years old), that's only accessible by boat which is included in the tour.

If you're interested in a truly distinctive overnight experience, why not stay in a "Yurt" (located at Lakeshore East in Shasta Lake), a circular tent commonly used by nomads in Mongolia, Siberia and Turkey. You'll find several campgrounds around the lake as well, with different parts of the lake best suited for varying recreational activities. Here's a great link that will help you decide which part of the lake you should consider visiting.

Our California Coastline Trip

"A Comfort Zone is A Beautiful Place, but Nothing Ever Grows There." -Unknown Author

What's not to love about California? It has countless miles of sun-drenched coastline, the inviting ocean, and year-round temperatures of around 70 degrees. I consider myself lucky to be able to pack up the kids and take a three-day trip along the coast—and that's exactly what we did recently. Staying at Costanoa Lodge, hiking in Butano State Park, visiting a berry farm, spending time with good friends and enjoying exceptional gourmet meals in Pescadero.We couldn't have had a more 'California' weekend.

The first stop of our trip led us to the Santa Cruz Wharf for lunch and digging into some  hearty clam chowder bread bowls. After lunch, we strolled to Streamer Lane, watching the surfers take on the perfect waves (huge swells in the winter and excellent surf all year). Steamer Lane is Santa Cruz's most famous surf spot, located just off West Cliff Drive. The cliffs here provide a ideal vantage point to watch surfers, and the brick-clad Santa Cruz Surfing Museum sits nearby, offering its visitors a lot of neat, local history - like stories of Jack O'Neill who designed the modern wetsuit.

Next we drove north along the beautiful Pacific Coast Highway 1 stopping at Swanton Berry Farm. My kids and I picked fresh organic strawberries, stopped by the store, sampled some of their to-die-for fresh berry jams and indulged in their amazing strawberry lemonade. We added in a couple of wonderfully rich berry chocolates for good measure and had the perfect pit stop. We soon passed by Año Nuevo State Park, though we didn't stop because summer isn't the best season to visit the park. Winter brings the best opportunity to watch the park's elephant seals, and it's definitely an experience anyone visiting the area should have on their bucket list.

















We finally ended the day by eagerly joining our friends at Costanoa, an eco-adventure resort designed to inspire its guests to explore the natural beauty of the California coastline. There are several activities one can enjoy, including hiking, kayaking and even receiving a luxurious spa treatment. The experience was incredible and it proved to be a relaxing retreat indeed.







Costanoa has several accommodation options, including cabins, tent cabins, RV campsites and the main lodge. My friends and I each had our own cabin, and they were connected by a shared wall and a spacious patio. It was the perfect setup for all of us, and we hung out in the mornings on the shared patio to have breakfast. It was also great because our kids could play between the cabins and on the patio. The cabins are basically a room with beds and a half bathroom (a tiny sink and a toilet). Still though, it felt like a 5-star campsite for us since we had the convenience of sleeping in a room with nice beds and mattresses and a half bathroom inside. The cabin also had a skylight to watch the stars at night while lying on our beds. There were also very nice showers just a few steps outside of the cabins, and a fire pit was nearby with comfortable couches to sit on. At night, when we wanted to roast our marshmallows, we called the front desk and they started the fire for us. Talk about service! We had a good, old-fashioned time roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. Our friends also brought along their popcorn shaker, and we made popcorn on the fire, a new experience for my kids!

The next day we went out hiking at Butano State Park. I'd heard about the beauty of this park many times before, and we couldn't resist checking it out since we were just a few minutes from the park. We started off our hike by walking through part of the six-bridge trail, and it was fun for everyone to count the bridges as we hiked.

The uphill areas felt hard on the kids' legs. Still, they all managed to finish a 5-6 mile loop, with a lunch break in between. Having a bag of trail mix (with some yummy treats like M&M and Cheetos) kept them excited to go on while the nuts and dried fruits gave them the energy to push through the strenuous inclines. The park is located in a secluded redwood-filled canyon and has miles of hiking trails of different skill levels.

 











We visited Pescadero State Beach & Marsh during the rest of our trip. This is a beautiful park with a mile-long shoreline, tide pools, sandy coves and rocky cliffs. We enjoyed the great Pacific Ocean views while the kids played in the lagoon and on the sand. The water felt too cold for them (or even me!) to swim in, but we weren't opposed to getting our feet wet while we played along the shore and watched the cute little hermit crabs. On the last day, we stopped at Arcangeli Grocery Co for their roasted garlic, artichoke bread that was fresh out of the oven! Yum! We would never leave Pescadero without indulging in some artichoke soup and artichoke bread! It was the ideal ending to the perfect three-day road trip.

My Favorite High-Protein, High-Fiber Meal

Our road trip to Northern California and Oregon is fast approaching. While I'm making a packing list for clothes, gear and food, I thought to share one of our healthy camping/backpacking meals. It can be breakfast or it can be lunch. What I love about it is:

• It's delicious.

• It's healthy and loaded with protein and fiber.

• I can make it in advance if I don't have much time to prepare a healthy breakfast for a day of hiking, biking or backpacking.

• If we're not hungry that early, I can pack it for the family and we can take bites throughout the morning. It helps us make it through the day on this one meal!

What I love so much about it is that it's loaded with protein for muscle building/reconstructing, fiber to keep us fuller longer and lots of delicious flavors!

Have you guessed what it is yet? It's not a bagel, cereal, or smoothie. It's a hot meal!

It's a Breakfast Burrito! 

Recipes? Na...Make Your Own!

There's really not a single recipe fits all for breakfast burritos. Our healthy, high-protein, high-fiber and low-carb version is:

• Dice and chop some vegetables. Our favorite vegetables are sweet potatoes, mushrooms, yellow onion, red bell peppers and spinach. 
• Satué sweet potatoes, yellow onions and red bell peppers (from the one that takes the longest to cook to the shortest). 
• Push the veggies to one side of the pan and scramble two eggs on the other (you may add some taco seasoning into the eggs for some additional flavors). 
• When the eggs are nearly done, add some spinach (and feta cheese, if you like, to taste). 
• Wrap everything in a gluten-free tortilla. 
• Depending on your diet, other ingredients to add are grated cheese, bacon and sliced sausages. 
• And for some additional taste and spice, you may top it up with some green chilies. Voila! Bon Appetit!

Not only do high-intensity outdoor activities burn a lot of calories, but being at altitude requires your body to burn more carbohydrates. The addition of sweet potatoes, which are higher in fiber and thus provide a slower-burning carbohydrate source than white potatoes, is great.

Looking for more reason to love breakfast burritos while camping or traveling? Okay, here you are:

• It's fast and doesn't take as much time!

• Less dishes to do! Because we all know that doing dishes while camping without a sink is no fun!

• It's a fun activity to do with family and friends. On the mornings of our camping trips, when we have time to make and enjoy a family breakfast, I invite my kids to make their breakfast burrito. They love to chop veggies, beat eggs and wrap their own burritos.

• And on days when we are short of time, we can make them in advance and warm them up in the morning.

This breakfast is one of our Girl Scout camping breakfasts. We make this on the last day of our camping using all the leftovers. No wonder I said there's no single recipe for breakfast burritos. Just use your leftovers and minimize waste.

This is going to be one of our key breakfasts for our upcoming road trips. What are some of your favorite camping meals?