Birthdays and Gathering

On Friday, Jay turned 50 and M turned 44. A zero birthday means some celebration must be had, so I took the day off and we headed to the interior. We met Dad at the Motel 6 in Redding, then headed to Win River Casino and rendezvous'd with Mark, Felicia, Jay and his date Lisa. We dined, then hit the gaming floor for a few rounds with Lady Luck. 

There were no big winners among us, not surprisingly - there is a casino business model after all. M and I dropped Dad back at the motel, then headed out to Steve and Jay's to continue celebrating. Mom and Don had come over, Glo and kids had come up with Mark, Felicia brought Sophia, and Steve's squeeze Lori had come over from Eureka. Officially a party! Mom made a cheesecake for M and a carrot cake for Jay. It was nice to see everyone. Steve's pad is coming along nicely.

Saturday morning, M and I had breakfast with Jay, Felicia, and Dad, then headed to Shasta Caverns for a little geological observation. We made the first tour of the day, so it was a very small group, just one other couple. The low lake level was a bit distressing, but caves are cool, in so many ways. The formation of stalactites over hundred of thousands, even millions of years puts our puny human birthdays in perspective.

After the caverns tour, we stopped briefly by Steve's again for a quick hello, then to the Pendleton Outlet store for a birthday gift for M, and thence to Chico. We hung out for a bit at Mark and Glo's and had a fine meal as always at Sierra Nevada Brewery. 

We had a little more visiting with the Chico clan at breakfast today then headed home. We saw lots of birds - hawks, herons, egrets, snow geese mostly - on the way home. And! a porcupine at the washout in Chico! That was wild. He was just ambling along right near the road. It looked almost Muppet-ish, particularly around the footpads.

Here's the Flickr album of our visit. I'm so glad Dad made the trip out, and to be so close to family and friends so we can mark these milestones, however briefly.