We were up early at the Rouge River Inn and had breakfast at the hotel with lots of Amish people from Ohio. Once out the door, we headed toward Crater Lake. It was a lovely ride through some more redwoods and alot of National Park land. As we entered the Crater Lake area and stopped at the guard station to pay, up ahead, a deer walked across the road with two little ons trailing behind her. We didn't see any other large wildlife in the park. We climbed for a long time toward Crater Lake. It is right up in the [View Full Entry]

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On the way to Portland we decided to take a roundabout route to swing by crater lake. We felt slightly foolish when we realized there were FEET of snow on the ground and we were wearing shorts. Also, got extremely lost on our way out as multiple roads were closed due to the fact that apparently there june = winter (snow was blocking them) and had to drive hours out of the way to get to portland. We weren't quite driven to tears by its spectacular beauty (like many reviewers apparently were)... but it was really cool, and worth the extra [View Full Entry]

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After Stewart Springs, I ventured through the remaining miles of California. This is where a simple idea such as a "road trip" turns into something very different, where whole governments and people change while the landscape remains the same. It was almost like going uphill, the dry and expansive Pacific Coast I know in California became intimate and lush. The terrain was defined by forested hills and large but distant volcanos. My destination? The mythical National Park of Crater Lake. Crater Lake is easy to understand. Imagine a massive volcano much like Mt. Ranier- 4000 meters high and covered with glaciers- [View Full Entry]

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Travel Trivia Question and it is an easy one. What is the picture of? And you can't say, "a field." It's a specific type of field. Bonus Question: Where was this picture taken. As in, state and location within the state. The most specific answer wins so adding cities, towns, etc. to your answer will improve your chances, or not, depending. Susan has racheted up the quality of the gifts, mainly because she didn't leave it up to me, so just be aware this could be worth something good. Good luck. Moose and Squirrel [View Full Entry]

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We write from the Prospect Inn and Motel, a Historic Inn on route 62 to Crater Lake. We are in the Zane Grey Room (he apparently stayed here). I don't think I've ever read a Zane Grey novel but that wasn't a requirement. I thought I would recap our trip over the last week or so. After we left the Hoh Rainforest, home of the Banana Slug, we hit parts of the Washington coast on our way to Astoria, OR. The WA coast, where accessible, is mostly shallow inlets and mudflats, filled with Canada Geese, ducks and herons. Not quite as [View Full Entry]

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070915 Crater Lake National Park, Oregon I almost missed seeing this. I was planning on driving up the coast from southern Oregon to Portland, but as I was driving I saw signs for this national park. I’ve heard about it before, but didn’t even think of it as I was planning my weekend. Luckily I had camped just about 30 minutes outside of Klamath Falls. When I entered the city and saw signs for Crater Lake I immediately changed my destination. Driving up to the crater you can see Mount Baldy, Diamond Mountain, Diamond Lake and a whole slew of other [View Full Entry]

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Long day today of over 500 miles, yet quite possibley the weirdest 500 miles I have ever driven in my life. The day started at around 930am with a quick nip to grab a photo of the Carson Mansion in Eureka, for some reason I expected this to be in quite large grounds and far away from anything else, but its basically just another house on a street. The drive starts 270 miles ish to Crater Lake, the vast portion of the drive was uneventful, although the drive through The Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park was very nice, however this [View Full Entry]

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Mt. Mazama erupted 7,700 years ago. After expelling ash and pumice this huge mountain collapsed and created a beautiful lake encircled with green forests and steep mountains. We had magnificent views of Wizard Island in Crater Lake with the shadows and clouds moving in. We arrived late in the day with the possibility of snow expected. We took pictures and decided to hi-tail it off the mountain, it was cold. This time of year, campgrounds are closed and the drive out of the National Park is significant plus the trip to another campground was a bit of a hike. So off [View Full Entry]

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Crater lake was formed by an explosion that blew the top of the mountain off and left a huge crater behind. After that explosion occured, a baby volcano formed inside the crater, creating a volcanic island right in the middle of it. The waters at Crater lake were of a really deep blue that is rarely seen. The water was so still, it looked almost unreal. We drove around the entire perimeter of the lake but unfortunately were not able to touch the water since it is a fairly long hike down to the water from the top of the crater [View Full Entry]

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