ROAD TRIP: Redding: A Trip That Would Make the Grandpas Proud

So if you recall (or just scroll down) I was spending some time up in fantastic Redding on a business trip. Now, I give this place a bad rap. It's hot(ter than Fresno), it's far away (from everything), and it's shopping and food scene blows. However, leaving my description of the town at that would not be fair. It is in a gorgeous setting, with trees, cliffs, Mt. Shasta nearby, and the Sacramento River winding through and through... which is how I entertained myself during the trip.

The first night I spent there, I just daydreamed about being back in Sac. The second night I decided to make the most of my trip, and the most of what I had brought along with me.

Before I left, I packed up my golf clubs. I've been wanting to get back onto the driving range for a couple of months now, and I thought this trip would be the perfect time to get back into the swing of things (rim-shot!). I pulled out my trusty Yelp! app on my iPhone to look up the best range. There were quite a few to pick from. The one I ultimately went with didn't have the most appealing descriptions of hosts, facilities, or range balls... but the name intrigued me: Aqua Golf.



This little rink-a-dink range is right on the Sacramento River. The "range"? It's the water. This was the most fun I've ever had just hitting balls. And I was all by myself (well except for the hot "range" dude that puttered around in a little boat scooping up balls with a skimmer... with his shirt off). The best part was that with my first swing, I hit the ball over 100 yards! Without whiffing! Without slicing! Without me relying on my grandpa! The easy going may have had something to do with the range balls being extra-floaty. I'm sure that made them extra-light. But for a large bucket of balls for $9, I really can't complain.

After I left the range I drove up the river a bit to a place where my other grandpa told me I had to visit. The Sundial Bridge.



Apparently there's only 2 or 3 of these in the world. I was shocked to see how many people were out there on a Wednesday night... a lot of families walking, teens trying to put the moves on each other, or punks riding their skateboards around. They were all out there for a good reason: The bridge is awesome at night. The bottom part that you walk across is lit up from the underside. The huge support cables coming down from the "dial" make for some pretty artsy angles. (As you can see, I'm as good of a art critic as I am a food critic.)



I didn't spend much time there... just enough time to walk from one end to the other and back. But that won't keep me from recommending it to any of you... or from coming back and telling my grandpa I did as I was told. That is a lot to ask of me. After all, I'm only 25 years old ;)