California Gardening: Redding/Lake Shasta Area, 1 by PotEmUp

PotEmUp wrote:
I have very good friends that live in McCloud - just East of Mt Shasta City. Beautiful country. You may notice that there is an airport in Weed. That is because a large number of very rich people live in the area as a seclusion place. My friends are within spittin' distance of the Hearst family (Patty went there after being released.) I have been by the McCormick's (Shilling-McCormick spices). I believe Ophra has a place in the area also. Rural area - subject to temporary power outages due to snow. Mt Shasta is just downright beautiful. It has several glaciers on it's face and sports skiing in the winter. From there it is about an hour to major shopping in Redding or Medford, OR.
As noted by you already, It ain't the heat it's the humidity, seems to sort of hold true in that area.
My sister in law lives in Red Bluff, about 1/2 hour south of Redding. A lovely little community in the Valley. Like Redding, it is a bit too hot for my wishes, but it is along the Sacramento River and seems like a good place to raise kids.
I have another friend that lives is Cassell. It is to the East of Redding in the Mt. Lassen area (another dormant volcano, but one with steam vents and other cool features) Again rural, lots of water nearby and snow for part of the year.
My parents and brother are buried at Whiskeytown Dam - to the East of Redding. I lived for a year in Big Bar (population about 20) This is old gold country and still has some active gold claims working. Check with http://davesgarden.com/members/4paws/ as she lives in Hoopa, further toward the East of Redding.

I grew up in Fort Bragg, near Mendocino. It is on the coast and is far more temperate in climate. Next to the ocean you are in the 50 - 70 degree range most all year long. Fog in the summer because of the temperature gradient between land and sea, but generally very clear in the winter. Given my druthers, I would go to the coast - Eureka, Crescent City, Fort Bragg. Each of these towns has all the major shopping conveniences.

In any of these places you will have plenty of wildlife, maybe more than you want. My friends at Mt Shasta have a very limited amount of plants available to them - most get consumed by the deer. They have fox, coyote, bear. They have trout in the their front yard. On one of my visits a tame raven came by and perched on shoulders looking for a handout. The best tale from Mt Shasta is the young eagle that came and snagged a trout from the pond. Eyes bigger than tummy was the rule of the day and the poor eagle had a tough time getting the trout to the edge of the pond. It only ate the head and flew off. My friends watched the entire activity and a went out after the eagle left to claim their dinner for the evening.

Here is a view of Mt Shasta from the east edge of Mt Shasta City. It is really easy to wake up in the morning knowing you can walk outside and see that wonderous mountain.

Edited to add: Have you found http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.htm?addrstrthood=&cityst... yet? Just put in a city name, or zip code to see house prices in the area.





This message was edited Oct 31, 2007 7:22 PM