SHASTA!!!


Shasta was awesome! We got there in a little under 5 hours and made 0 stops on the way there, not even a bathroom stop, we were determined to get there! For those who don't know, Shasta is in Northern California, it's beautiful!

So, we are pulling up to the campground entrance which is on the left, it is of course dark out and I see something a little ways in front of us that looks like an animal, then as we get closer I say, "Honey, is that a bear??" Half joking because I thought, nah, couldn't be. Sure enough it is a bear right in front of us!!!!! I start fumbling around for the camera but as we get about 5-10 feet away from him he runs into the woods to the left, right into the campground!! I am of course freaking out and Brian is bummed we didn't get a picture. This has been the first bear in years to come to the campground. He ended up searching through the garbage and bugging some of the RV's, but apparently he was a pretty jumpy so he didn't get violent with anyone. But the animal control people were going to come and check out the situation. What a way to start the trip, very eventful!
We unloaded our stuff Friday night and went to bed so we would be ready to go for Saturday. Sleeping in a tent is interesting to say the least. Luckily we had a nice foam pad to sleep on which made it nice, but I am very sensitive to noise and light which comes with sleeping in a tent. I had to put my pillow over my head in order to get to sleep, which put a crink in my neck. I woke up at 5:50 am from the sun, put the covers over my head and slept until 7 am, tried to get back to sleep and was successful until 8 am when I decided it was finally time to get up. So we got up, made some coffee, put our swimsuits on and got the boat ready!

Saturday
It felt sooo good to get out on the boat. We road around for awhile and let the sun heat us up a little before we got in the water and decided to go knee boarding. Brian got up on his first try (he's a natural) and had a blast, he was doing 360's and attempting to jump the wake. I decided I should get out and try it as it looked pretty fun. For those who have not been knee boarding, to start out you hold onto the rope and lay on your stomach on the board, once the boat gets going you have to manuever yourself up on the knee board without making too much movement, and then strap your knees in. My first attempt I failed, I tried to move in one quick motion to get my knees into place, bad idea. So my second try I slowly climbed up the board and strapped my knees in, I was up, yay! I had a great time and the water was nice and smooth, perfect. Brian and Zack went on the tubes and Randy (stepdad) gave them a pretty rough ride. Randy wanted Lance to learn how to drive the boat so they got an extra long ride when Lance got behind the wheel. He did great and gave them a good mixture of speed, bumps, and turns. Brian and Zack were both exhausted by the time we headed in. Mission accomplished. That night my mom's friends joined us at our campsite and we all sat around and talked. I think we made smore's that night which were delicious, then headed to bed.

Sunday
We woke up at 8 am again and headed on the boat, we don't mess around! We were all pretty tired and worn out from Saturday so we spent most the day in the boat lounging around. Some of the boating friends joined us in one of the arms of Shasta and we tied all our boats together, listened to music, drank, and swam. There were a lot of kids so it was fun to watch them play, they had a lot of fun! That night the them was drink night so everyone went to the Koeche's campsite and brought a drink for everyone to share. Brian and I brought Yucca juice which is Tequila, sliced lemons, sugar, and ice. You shake it in a 2 gallon container for an hour, or until the ice is completely gone. It ends up tasting like country time lemonade, it was a little sweet so if we do it again we'll add less sugar for sure! It was a fun night, everyone was dancing and having a great time.

Monday
Our internal alarms went off at the usual 8 am and we headed off to the lake. It was the hottest day by far, so we all lathered up with sunscreen, which we would continute to apply every hour and still get a little burned! We spent the first part of the day tied with a bunch of boats in another arm of Shasta having a great time. It took about 45 minute to get out to the arm so I layed on the back of the boat and took a little nap :) Once we were all tied up with the other boats we jumped in the water which felt so good. We stayed there for a couple hours and socialized, swam, sunscreen, repeat. We decided to head back around 5 pm, I wanted to knee board again and the water was perfect for it, smooth as glass. I went for awhile and fell trying to get over the wake, I gave it another shot and was able to go back and forth over the wakes. We came up to some pretty good waves and I was hanging on pretty good but I caught a big one and did a nose dive, all that lake water rushing up my nose, ahh. No harm done though. Brian went for another run and then my mom and I got on the tubes and had a nice ride.
Finally Lance couldn't take it anymore, he put his walking cast on and him and Zack got on the tubes. He has been begging my mom and Randy to put a tower on the boat for the last 7 years, they finally did and he can't even enjoy because of his ankle! He had a blast out there. It's fun to watch him because he's such a natural, his ankle was a little sore afterwards but he said it was more than worth it.
We headed in for the night to attend 80's night at the Delgado's. My mom and I wore black stretchy capris with shirts that hung over our shoulder and headbands. Lance and Zack were all decked out in short shorts, long socks, and headbands, they looked hilarious. They played 80's music all night and we BBQ'd burgers and hot dogs, delicious! I was exhausted so we headed to bed pretty early, but not before making some smores! Yummy!

Tuesday
We woke up at 8 am, packed up our stuff and headed home. Originally we wanted to go out on the boat for a little bit but we had to pick up MJ and do some grocery shopping so we thought we would get a head start. It was good to see MJ and she was very excited to see us! We went home, made some dinner, and got in bed at 7:15! We didn't quite go to bed though, Brian read the newspaper to catch up and I read my book. I didn't go to bed until about 10 pm, that is how good my book is! It's the first book in the Firstborn series by Karen Kingsbury.

Now we are back at work and trying to adjust, always difficult.
I will leave you with tons of pictures from our wonderful and memorable trip to Lake Shasta!! Thanks Mom and Randy for a great trip :)

Brian knee boarding, look at those buff arms!

Here I am knee boarding for the first time!
Lance and Brian being goofy:
Brian and Zack having wars on the tubes:
It was hard to keep their balance, but hilarious to watch!
Brian and I soaking in the sun :) Like the pink shades? LOL!
We had 7 boats tied up, it was so fun!
From left: my mom, Patty, Mauna, and Robyn. The crownies :)

Here is Brian shaking the Yucca juice:

Brian and I having fun:
Lance and Zack enjoying their pop!
Here is MarciAnn (my moms friend) and her cousin Maria, all the girls had a great time dancing!
You can see Mt. Shasta behind us!

My mom and I on 80's night, we are so spirited!

Lance and Zack were hilarious!
Us 4 posing:

Well that about covers it for pictures, Brian and I are going to go for a walk, it's gorgeous out! Have a great night everyone!