We woke up early this morning to drive to Lassen Volcanic National Park in the north of California. And during the drive up to the National Park we encountered something completely unexpected: snow!
Wait, what month is it? Isn't it June? Aren't we in California? Well, yes and yes... What's going on? We prepared for a sunny vacation, so we brought all the wrong clothes. Well, at least we still have each other to keep us warm.
When I was researching Lassen Volcanic National Park, I had seen that most roads close seasonally because of the snow. But I had assured myself that we didn't need to worry about that, because we would be there in early summer and the snow would be long gone. Apparently, I was very wrong.
We were able to enter the park, but we couldn't get very far. We did make it to a parking lot with a little toilet house, covered in layers of snow. Of course, there was no plumbing, so any 'donation' you made, went straight into a very deep (and thanks to the cold not smelly) hole. This system was too scary for my mom, she kept imaging creepy crawlers that were about to attack her from the depth, so she didn't make a donation.
We may not have any nice and warm winter clothes with us, but we sure do have our rain coats (souvenirs from an extremely rainy San Francisco). And they certainly came in handy today, to fight the drizzle but also the cold.
This amazing amount of snow kind of ruined our volcanic plans, but feeling like we had time traveled to December was quite interesting indeed. It was surreal and a lot of fun.
I absolutely love snow and winter, but the last time I've seen snow was three years ago in Inuyama, Japan. I've been wishing for snow for three winters, two in Osaka and one in San Francisco... I never even came close. But now that it's almost summer, I finally get my snow! I was so happy I couldn't stop taking pictures! So here are some more from my iPhone:
Tomorrow, we're going to try to enter the park from the other side and see if we can spot a volcano or two, or perhaps some more snow?!
It looks like you had a lot of fun despite the snow. I love winter and snow though I can't actually sand the cold! It's all about wrapping up in knits xx
ReplyDeleteExactly! I can't handle cold very well either and I get cold so easily, but I love wrapping myself in layers and drinking something hot to warm myself up. Oh, I'm craving colder weather!
ReplyDeleteWe came for the sun and instead we had snow.
ReplyDeleteIt was great though, snow en coldnes but we had a lot of fun!
The snow was one of many favorites during our road trip!
ReplyDeleteLong time reader, never commented before. This post made me homesick as I grew up just outside of Lassen Volcanic National Park. I have hiked to the top of Mt. Lassen many times. My grandmother made the hike at 80 years old. I love the pics of the 'road closed' sign as I have seen that sign many times. So glad you had fun seeing snow in June.
ReplyDeleteKeli, thank you for your comment, it's great to find out I have long time readers!
ReplyDeleteWow, you hiked to the top of Mt. Lassen?! I'm impressed, and even more so with your grandmother! We went back to LVNP in August, when the road wasn't closed and got to see how very high it is, and we didn't even think about hiking it!
It must have been awesome growing up in that area of California, it's so beautiful there!
How fun! Can't believe there was that much snow. The raincoats seemed to work in a pinch. :) Looks like you all had a wonderful time.
ReplyDelete(P.S. came via tracie's blog)
Thanks Beautiful Life! Love the pink on your blog! I'm your 100th follower :).
ReplyDeleteIt looks professionally done, in my opinion.
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