The Great Redding Pizza Standoff...

Morning view of Mount Shasta

I really am enjoying exploring new places with my kids.  Mount Shasta is one of those places I would like to explore a little bit more.  We don't have time on this trip, but I will definitely come back up this way again.  Even the campground on Lake Siskiyou is pretty great.  Now, I don't see myself climbing to the top of Shasta, but whether you're at the base, or high above, there is much beauty to enjoy in this part of California, for sure.

Since they only had a space available for one night, I had to get Rolling Thunder road ready.  Otherwise, we would have stayed here for one more night.  That said, rather than head out, we decided to drive over to the sandy beach we had discovered the day before.  Luckily I found a place to park in the far corner of the parking lot!

Morning lake skim boarding

Jaden and I hit the water for a refreshing morning swim.  Mazzy watched Jasper on the shore.  The water temperature was absolutely perfect!  There's nothing like a dip in a crystal clear mountain lake to get the blood flowing!  Jaden tried to get me to try his skim board.  Sorry dude!  I don't need a trip to the ER...  Skateboard, Surfboard, Snowboard.  I'm game.  Skim board?  No thank you! That said, who knows, maybe the kid is on to something.  I've never seen anyone skim board in a lake before, and he sure did have fun!  Hmmm. 

When we got back to Rolling Thunder, I noticed that one of the rear tires looked low.  Since I had packed a air compressor/jump starter combo, I pulled it out and put some air in the tire.  We do have dual rear tires, but I didn't want to take any chances of the tire blowing out on the highway.

Helping put air in the tire...

After we aired up, we were about to hit the road when Jaden reminded me that I had said we could stop at the campground restaurant for some of the BBQ chicken pizza he had seen on the menu they gave us when we checked in.  And how could I say no to BBQ chicken pizza...?  I'm sick of my cooking as well!  Not only that, if I'm going to reach a true Covid 19(lbs) by the end of summer, I've still got some work to do! Sort of... ;)

Wait.  The restaurant doesn't open until 3pm, and it's 1pm.  The 'tween didn't go into a meltdown, but I could tell he was definitely disappointed.  So, I hopped on Google, found "the best" pizza joint in Redding CA (which was about an hour away) and put Rolling Thunder in Drive!

Jasper the navigator

We had a 240 mile drive ahead of us today, most of which, would be on the 5 freeway.  Admittedly, it would not be the most spectacular leg of our trip, but was the fasted way to get to Lake Tahoe!  We pulled into Redding CA around 2:30pm, and drove straight to the pizza joint.  Luckily, I found a parking kitty corner from it!

Wait.  The whole block where the pizza joint was located was closed due to construction.  Whaaat? Wow, I'm totally failing our BBQ pizza cravings today.  As I walked back to Rolling Thunder to break the bad news, Jaden said, "Dad, you were going the wrong way.  It says pizza right there," as he pointed out the side door.  Talk about dumb luck.  There was another pizza joint right next to where we were parked.  I was so caught up in trying to find the "best Pizza" joint, that I didn't even notice that there was a place just outside our door.  And, they had BBQ pizza on the menu! Total save!

Best pizza in Redding...!

While we waited for our pizza, I had some time to jump back on my travel app, Roadtrippers, to search for a campground.  I already had booked a place for the night that is about 40 minutes outside of Lake Tahoe, but I really wanted to get much closer to the lake.

Because we were going into the weekend, it was pretty impossible to get a reservation at any campground on, or near, Lake Tahoe.  But I still wanted to take the kids to see this incredibly deep, blue lake, even just for a day.  So, I reached out to someone I know who has a family vacation home there. My dear friend, Max Gutierrez!  I thought maybe we could park near his place for the day so we could get some lake time in.

Our BBQ pizza pretty tasty for us weary travelin' boys!  But for Mazzy, the cheese pizza I ordered for her was not to her liking.  In fact, she even said, "This doesn't even look like pizza. Pizza is supposed to be longer."  Knowing that she was comparing her individual size cheese pizza it to slice of NY pizza, and knowing that she would much rather be in NY instead of Reading CA, and also knowing that I was caught dead in the gravitational pull of age 14 attitude, I did what any 51 year old dad would do.  I called her bluff and said, "it's round, has tomato sauce, and is toped with cheese.  I'm pretty sure it's a pizza."  I then dipped my BBQ chicken pizza in ranch dressing, took a bite, winked at my son and said, "Damn, this is some good pizza."

Dutch Bros Coffee is a thing...?

Once we were back on the road, and the Great Redding Pizza Standoff was over, I figured it was time to put a smile back on the teenager's face.  We had seen a couple Dutch Bros coffee places on the Pacific Coast, but had never stopped in to check it out.  I had never heard of this coffee chain, but according to my teenager's social media influencers, it's the very best coffee.  I spotted one on Waze, so decided to stop in to check it out.  Let's just say that Mazzy was in heaven with her large decaf iced vanilla latte...!

Her first Dutch Bros coffee

Getting into campgrounds just before sunset is definitely our thing.  But tonight, we didn't quite make it.  Nightfall had set in as we rolled up to the Snowflower RV Resort office to check in.  This place is first come, first serve, and we were the last camper to roll in for the night.  Our campsite was up high above the office, on a rather steep (at moments), bumpy dirt road.  As we wound our way around the hill, our cell service went in and out reception.  At one point, the teenager went into full panic mode at the notion we would not have any reception for the night. Remember, she "has a life..." And this campground does not have WIFI...

We passed many campsites that were occupied.  Finally we found the very last open campsite, ironically, and oddly numbered Campsite #1.  I actually think this campsite was unoccupied, because no one else had noticed it!  It was a perfect site that was far away from the other campsites.  It was like we had our very own private campsite in the wilderness.  It was perfect!

After dinner, we played poker and listened to Steph-o's 80s Spotify playlist, which of course means we did end up having cell service after all.  Bummer.  It would have been nice to be off the grid for the night just to show the teen the importance of disconnecting.  That said, just before bedtime, I got a text message from my buddy Max.  The whole family was actually in Lake Tahoe as we speak!  He said we should come stay with them tomorrow.  Oh boy.  Tomorrow is going to be a great day!

Day 7 – July 31, 2020  

Start: Lake Siskiyou CA  

Destination: Emigrant Gap CA 

Where we stayed: Snowflower RV Resort

Mileage: 240 miles