We enjoyed a hearty breakfast using odds & ends from our rented kitchen to re-create my mother's recipe for coffee cake (see below), and we delivered two large slices to Stephen and Judy just in time for their own breakfast. After hugs and expressions of much gratitude for their graciousness, we departed Eugene and its emerging fall colors for Crater Lake National Park. The gorgeous three-hour drive along a two-lane highway, was bordered on both sides by the towering, dark green conifers of the Waldo Lake Wilderness and the other by the Willamette National Forest. The drive into Crater Lake National Park from the north entrance was uninspiring, scrubby trees and infertile soil, the remnants of a volcanic eruption and lava flow nearly 8,000 years ago. But as we gradually ascended to 7,100 ft. elev. and
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