When we accepted our travel assignment in Northern California, Aaron immediately said, "We need to visit Wittmer!". One of Aaron's childhood friends growing up moved to California and they had not seen each other in over 5 years. Redding is only a 4 hour drive from us, so we definitely had to take a trip there!
We arrived at their place around 5pm since Wittmer, Alex is his first name, did not get out of work until then. He and his wife have 2 kids and are awaiting their third! They cooked up a wonderful meal as they all caught up and I got to know everyone.
The next day Wittmer had to work, but he gave us a recommendation to get breakfast at Airpark Cafe. The menu is limited, but everything was delicious! We had a breakfast burrito and it was plenty for us to split.
Afterwards we checked out the house Wittmer was working on. He renovates properties and it was really neat to see all the renovations they had done and were planning to do. It also gave us so many ideas of what we could to do our rental property! Wittmer recommended us to check out Mossbrae Falls while he was working. Due to the weather our hiking options were limited, and we wanted to spend time with Wittmer too! So we headed to this short, but fun hike! We could see snow on the mountain tops too!
It is on private property, but the people were friendly and pointed us in the right direction when we looked lost outside their house. Once you get to the railroad tracks, you just walk along them until you get to the falls!
The waterfall was beautiful and there were not many people which made it more enjoyable.
Then we headed back to the car.
When we drove to the hike, we crossed Shasta Lake so we wanted to check it out a little!
The Sundial Bridge is a popular thing to see in Redding, so we went to check it out. It was built in 2004 and is one of the largest sundials in the world! We grabbed a cup of coffee and an eggnog latte at the café just before the bridge so we could enjoy it as we walked across.
Following the bridge, we headed over to Wittmer's house to hangout by the fire, cook up some steaks, and catch up.
The next morning we took a little trip to Whiskeytown Lake. Wittmer and his family go here often during the summer months to camp and get away from the heat. Aaron and I were shocked at the amount of damage the forest fires caused everywhere we went. This lake is only 10 minutes away from their house and there were rolling hills of burnt trees. When we went to the waterfall the day prior, it was the same thing. I can not imagine what it felt like for the people living so close and those who lost everything...
After this, we headed to the Shasta Dam with Wittmer and his family!
We had such a fun time visiting them. I am so glad we were able to visit Aaron's friend of over 20 years! Hopefully we don't go over 5 years without seeing them again!
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