A CHURCH, A DAM & A THEATER

For those of you old enough to remember – no, that is not the answer to one of the old Tonight Show host Johnny Carson’s Carnac the Magnificent questions. They are three things Lou found for us to visit today in Redding (about 170 miles north of Sacramento) – the Pilgrim Church (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), a tour of Shasta Dam & the Cascade Theater (a restored art deco gem).

He had emailed the church secretary at Pilgrim Congregational Church who said she would be glad to let us in for a look around. Frank Lloyd Wright designs are easy to spot & this one was no different. Unfortunately, they are a little difficult to photograph sometimes since he makes things blend in with their surroundings.

The exterior of the Pilgrim Church. I just love blue sky & puffy clouds - guess God wanted to provide an amazing background!

The chairs faced each other in the interior of the church. The pastor must stand on the rug in the center to deliver his sermon since there was no traditional pulpit.

This was one of our more scenic picnic lunch spots. We’ve had many gorgeous settings but this one overlooking Lake Shasta was just stunning!

This literally was the view of Lake Shasta from our picnic table.

Our next destination was a tour of Shasta Dam. We learned that Shasta Dam is the second largest dam in the U.S. after Grand Coulee Dam. I’ve driven and/or walked over several dams including Hoover Dam (fourth largest) & Glen Canyon Dam (third largest) but this was my first tour of the inner workings of a dam. It was an interesting perspective to see it from the bottom looking up – & a little spooky, I might add, knowing that all that water was contained by just a concrete wall!

Of course, they totally overdid the "Are you here for the dam tour?" or "We offer the best dam tour" comments. Ha, ha!

Shasta Dam from the visitor center. The left tower is where we met to take the elevator down for our guided tour - security is really tight since tours resumed a few years after 9 - 11.

The view of the Sacramento River from the top of Shasta Dam.

Looking the other direction from the top of the dam we were able to catch a glimpse of snow capped Mount Shasta.

Looking up at the dam the size is deceiving. Each of those openings is about 8 feet across.

Even though the Cascade Theater was closed the woman in the box office called the manager who let us in the lobby to take some photos. A rehearsal was taking place so we weren’t allowed in the actual theater. But I guess the manager must have liked us because he told us to go on in & check it out anyway.

Downtown Redding's Cascade Theater which puts on over 90 shows per year.

The ornate art deco lobby of the Cascade Theater.

All in all, it was another great day. Lou thinks we are eventually going to run out of places to see for our day trips – with all the things he manages to find on the internet, I don’t think so. At least not any time soon!