This post will be about a special place called Redding, CA. What? Another city... in California? THERE ARE MORE? Yes, lovelies, California is a big place and it has a lot of interesting things to see. This time, I will be introducing the Sundial Bridge at Redding's Turtle Bay Exploration Park. Now, why would I introduce the bridge and not Turtle Bay? As cute as turtles are, Sundial Bridge is unique in that it is actually a sundial. That's right. The bridge itself is a sundial!
For those who don't know, a sundial is a simple device used to tell time and one of the earliest clocks known to man. It can be used in the dirt or you can have a fancy one made. It involves a stick in the ground, a flat surface, and the shadow that the sun makes. From there you can calculate the time it takes for the shadow to move and mark time increments, and there you have a sundial. If you're ever lost in the wild and need to know what time it is, a sundial is a good way to know. It also tells you what direction is which as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Nifty, right?
The look of the bridge itself is unique. Construction first started around 1999 and opened in 2004 because construction is time-consuming and in many places in the US things take forever to get built. No, really, some things can take a really long time to get built.
The Sundial Bridge is a walking bride. No cars. Bikes and skateboards are okay. But it's a pretty nice bridge with white paint and the flooring seems to be made of an extremely strong glass and metal. But it's not see-through and even if it was, the bridge isn't high, so no need to fear!
When you see the bridge, you see a single tall, pointed tower that sits on the far end of the park entrance. This tower supports the suspension cables but also serves as the tower needed to tell time, the tower of the sundial. Once you cross the bridge, there's grass, and across the grass is a low cemented fence between the grass the grass and the dirt. This is the part used to tell what time it is.
The bridge itself is amazing to see, but watching the shadow move and knowing the accuracy of the time is amazing. In a world of technology where people rely on cell phones and watched to survive, knowing what a sundial is and how to use one is a neat thing. It blows my mind how people think of these things.
Please check out my instagram @mochaventure for the proof I was there and please check out the photo gallery for more pictures of this breath-taking bridge and it's views.
Cheers~!
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