Day 35 Sacramento and Lassen Park

Day 35 is in the books, and I am now halfway done with the trip. I drove to Sacramento and first visited one of the “top ten” churches on my list – the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, one of the largest cathedrals west of the Mississippi River. The Blessed Sacrament is also how the city, the county and the valley derived their names. The church was built in 1887 and is located two blocks from the State Capitol building.

I then drove to the Sacramento Airport and picked up Sean, who flew in from Charleston to join me for a week. We took a long drive to the Upper Bidwell Park, which also included an 8 mile drive over an incredibly bumpy rode, driving mostly 10 MPH or less. I don’t think this excursion was worth it, although the park had an interesting creek and rocky path that we used for a 1.5-mile hike with the dogs. We passed a middle-aged man walking his dog who explained the park has been a popular hangout for teens for decades.

We drove a long way up to our campsite for the night at the Manzanita Lake Campground in the Lassen National Park. We took a short walk to the lake (very nice) and Sean made the mistake of tossing a pinecone into the lake. Gipper immediately yanked the leash out of my hand and jumped in the lake to find it.

We cooked dinner, using up the last few formerly frozen items (breaded shrimp and chicken nuggets) which were now soggy. Switching from my broken fridge/freezer to a cooler with new ice daily isn’t working well.

Pictures include the church and the Capitol, one from Bidwell, and the rest from the Manzanita Lake Campground.