A Window with a View

There is a part of California's Interstate 5 that is tedious to drive through utterly beyond belief. It is the area between the bottom of the Grapevine at the southern end of the Central Valley and extends to the 580/205 connection which leads you into Stockton and the Bay Area. After that it is all about TRAFFIC.

But north of Sacramento and particularly north of Willows heading to Redding and above, something magical happens. The flat farmland changes to rolling farmland, grassland, and range land. It is surrounded by the Shasta National Forest and the Sierras to the east. Snow is so close you can almost taste it. For all the world, it reminds me of Wyoming. It feels just plain HUGE.

On the other side of Shasta, the farmland continues. It is rural in the extreme. After Redding there is nothing but small town exits that lead you somewhere else. One would think that this would be more tedium but in fact, what I found was miles and miles of interesting farms and barns. And so, I started clicking through my passenger window. Fortunately the sun was to the west and I was pointing east. The return trip was not nearly so photo-rich because of the sun and reflection. But here below are some of the wonderful barns of northern California and southern Oregon.