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Published: March 8th 2007
Crater Lake
A Winter Wonderland!
Dave B 3/8/07
Jim, Rosey and I all got up around 6:00 the next morning. We had some breakfast and got going around 7:00. Jim is a great host and stopped at a couple locations along the way to show me some noteworthy sites. In one location the river is known to be a world renown trout and salmon fishing stream. Jim let me lead so I could stop when I wanted to take a photo. We made it to Beckies restaurant near Crater Lake to drop my truck off and then I got in with Jim. I was going to continue north and west after we stopped at Crater Lake and Jim was going to head back to Medford. I was amazed by all the snow in this area. I think Jim said he read on the internet that they had 108 inches at the top of Crater Lake. After several switch backs we made it to the top of Crater Lake. At the top the snow was piled up 10 ft. plus. All the trees were snow covered indicating a recent snow fall. It was beautiful. The lake is huge and sits obviously down in a crater. Jim was
Beckies Diner
The last Becky's Diner I went to was in Portland, Maine and I had a Haddock sandwich for Lunch. Let's see what the Beckies Diner at Crater Lake has to eat. saying the volcano had erupted and then after the eruption the cap of the volcano sunk back into the volcano forming the deepest fresh water lake in the country. We took lots of pictures and I tried to learn from Jim as much as possible as he is a seasoned photography veteran. It was really cold and windy so after we took our pics. We got back in the truck and headed down the mountain. As we descended we took a couple more pics of the snow covered trees. At Beckies we were disappointed to see that they were closed. We stood there and talked for a few more minutes and then the owner walked out and opened the restaurant. After talking to her a little more she said she saw us and thought maybe we were wanting to come inside to eat.
Jim had a piece of pie and I had a sandwich, soup and pie. I got a very berry pie and it was awesome. The pie had blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and Huckleberry or boyensberry. It was awesome. After finishing the meal and further conversation we decided to head out. I went north and Jim headed south.
Surfs Up!
Big Waves along the Oregon Coast. I was thinking the last time I ate at a Beckies restaurant it was in Portland, Maine and it was called Becky’s Diner.
The road conditions were actually in very good shape. I stopped at a lake on the way to take a picture and stopped to snap a few photos of a mountain. The lake I stopped at had recently been drained to kill off an invasive fish but since the snow covered the lake you really couldn’t even notice. A lot of the camping areas were closed, but there were still a few open. As I drove farther I stopped at a falls, but didn’t even see it although I could hear it. I again felt a little hurried and thought I would just skip it rather than spending time hiking to it. A little farther down the road I saw a sign indicating another Fall. I pulled in there and it appeared the Falls were closed. I stopped and talked to some fisherman there and asked about the Falls being closed and they said you can hike to them, but it is a little dangerous. I decided not to do it and talked to them for
awhile. The guy was drinking Fat Tire beer one of my favorites and offered me one. I couldn’t pass this opportunity up so I sat down and talked to them for awhile while drinking the beer. They said the Fall I had previously stopped at, but couldn’t find it, is pretty cool and they said you can see it from the parking lot. I decided I was going back to it as it is only a few miles up the road. After about 15 minutes talking to them I decided I had better get going.
I made it up to the fall in a few minutes and in deed you could see the Fall from the parking lot. Not sure what I was looking at the first time that I missed it, but I did. I hiked up to it, which was only about a 0.25 mile hike, but the hike was up hill and a little difficult, but not bad. I was amazed at all the moss on the rocks. I stopped a couple times on the hike to take pictures as the moss and flowing water was cool.
I left there and got back on the
road. I was heading to Mendocino to camp. Jim had recommended the place and he said they even have yurts which were relatively inexpensive. Upon getting there I asked around about the cost and it was only $27 for the yurt and $16 for a tent spot. I told her I wanted to get to the ocean before it got dark and would come back to reserve a spot.
I drove out to the lighthouse and there were breakers on both sides of the location where a river entered the ocean in this location. The waves were hitting the breakers with much force and water would splash way up into the air. All the power and energy of the waves were amazing. I walked out on to the more northern breaker and was surprised to see harbor seals swimming near the breakers. They were fun to watch, but whenever I got close they would dive and swim away. This was cool in itself to know these were actually wild seals. Before this trip I had only seen seals in the zoo. I went farther out on the breaker and saw more seals in the ripping waves. The seals would
Crater Lake - Pic 4
My tour Guide Jim and I. Jim was a blast to hang out with and I feel lucky to have spent some time with Jim! A high five goes out to Jim as well as to his wife Rosey for the great roast beef supper! dive right before the wave crashed on them. I guess they were fishing, but I am not sure if they were catching any as I could never get a good look at their stringer. After several attempts at capturing this action on the camera I decided to head back to camp.
When I got back I decided to splurge and went for the yurt. I paid the lady and told her the site I wanted. Previously several people had said I must have ling cod on the east coast of Oregon. When in Rome eat what the Romans eat right? I have been doing this throughout the trip. No one at the campsite knew for sure where I could get it, but suggested I go to a golf course and check there. I told them I generally do not frequent golf courses, but would make an exception this night. The lady managing the campground laughed and said they don’t either. She was a blast talking to and said they were actually from New York even though their licens plates stated South Dakota. When I couldn’t remember the ling cod name she said just remember ding a ling ding a
Crater Lake - Pic 5
This cabin should be well insulated! ling ding a ling. I laughed she is a character and extremely nice. Her husband came back a little later and seemed kind of quiet. I think they were probably a pretty good couple as she liked to talk and he didn’t or never got a chance to.
I drove about a mile up the road and found the golf course entrance. They had said about 3 milesat the campsite. The entrance into the course had a security lady there. I had to tell her what I was doing and she let me in. I was thinking this must be a pretty high end place with this kind of security. I drove what seemed like forever to actually get to the restaurant. When they said about 3 miles about 2 miles of that was on the golf course property. I finally got there and asked the hostess if they have ling cod and she said yes they have cod. I specifically stated is it ling cod? She said she wasn’t sure and went back to ask the cook and came back with a definitive yes. I took a seat at the bar. I talked to a lady for awhile
their on business and then the cod came. It was fried which I was disappointed to see as I think the food flavors are better tasted and less likely to be masked if baked than fried. Oh well. The ling cod was indeed very good. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I couldn’t eat all the fries that came with it. The lady I was talking to said they had wifi at the complex so I got my computer and checked my emails. I showed her a video I had made while driving along a curvy road. I played a song off the cd that the guy had given me at the motel while driving this curvy road. The main purpose of the video was to illustrate how curvy the roads were, but when coupled with the music it was funny. At least I found it funny. After checking my emails and sending out a few I decided to head back to the campground. I was excited about staying in the yurt as I was in the lap of luxury this night. There was room enough to sleep 5 people comfortably and they even had heat and an electrical hookup. Sweet deal!
Crater Lake - Pic 7
Lots of snow - Pic 2 I typed for awhile and then decided to hit the hay around 11:00. There were a few other people staying in the adjacent yurts. It rained for most of the night and was raining the next morning. My string of beautiful days on this trip were coming to an end. The third night of this trip which was New Years it rained as well, but outside of that I have had generally good weather. Oh I did have the one nigh at Manatee Springs where it rained and was very windy. A few people actually died in that storm several miles south of where I was camping that night in Florida.
3/9/07
I waited for a time when the rain would let up and ran to the truck to get everything unlocked. I had to make several trips and got pretty wet. I drove a little ways north along the coast and took a couple pictures in a few locations, but the rain was definitely hampering the picture quality. I was surprised by all the sand dunes along the shore. It reminded me a little of North Carolina. I stopped at a doughnut place in Coos Bay who
Very Berry Pie
Some of the best pie I have ever eaten. The pie contained blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and huckleberris. advertised having biscuits and gravy. I had a doughnut and order of biscuits and gravy. It was very filling. After a few more miles I headed to Salmon Harbor area and looked around. I drove a lot farther back south than expected and saw a lighthouse that I had previously seen from the highway a ways back. There were lots of sand dunes in the area where people were riding atv’s. This was big business in this area. Lots of people renting atv’s. I couldn’t believe all the sand in the area. I finally came to a dead end and got out to run up to the top of the sand to see the ocean. There was a lot of driftwood along the beach and the waves were much bigger than I had seen farther south. I went back to the truck and worked my way back from where I had come. I stopped and took a picture of the lighthouse. It obviously had rained here a lot over night as well as their was ponding water in a lot of areas. I got back to the town and looked at a memorial to all the people that had died
Nor Wester
The other Becky's in Maine had Nor Easters. This Beckies has Nor Westers. in these seas. These were by far the most violent waves and generally the most violent area I have been to and I could see how people could die in this ocean. Some of the boats that I saw really were not that big either. Again I got on highway 101 and was making time. I decided to head directly to Seattle at this point. I had seen the Oregon coast, which were generally flatter than Californias with lots of sand and dunes.
I was going to eat a late lunch south of Portland. There was considerable traffic for some reason in a few small towns that worried me some. I stopped in and had a quick lunch and went to a motel to check emails and was back on the road. In Portland I decided to stop at the monument marking the end of the Oregon Trail. I got to the end of the Oregon Trail at 4:00 and they started their last show. I asked if I could go in a bit late. The elder person asked her supervisor if I could just go in and see the exhibits and she said no. I was tempted to
Rogue River
This River is a wild one! have a Chevy Chase moment at Disney World, but I didn’t I stayed calm and went to that happy place. I went out of the building and walked around the grounds for a couple minutes and then got back in my truck and headed for the waterfall. The traffic on 205 was backed up in the middle of the afternoon. I was a little impatient as I was thinking I might be in for a mess when I return from Multnomah Falls. It took a little longer than I expected to get there even when the traffic cleared out but it was well worth the wait. The falls were fantastic. I walked under the highway tunnel to the Falls. It was over cast and drizzling so it was going to be difficult to get a good photo. Most of my photos had water spots on them and all of them had the fog in them. The Falls were very cool and the pics show it, but the brilliance just isn’t quite there. This would be phenomenal on a clear day. I can think of 3 great potential photos at these falls on a clear day.
I got back in
Mt. Thielsen
Kinda Pretty! the truck and headed back to Portland. The traffic started backing up onto the exit ramp onto 205 north so I got the crazy idea of going on 205 south to 5 and taking that through Portland. Probably not one of my better ideas, but I made it, but it probably took longer as once I got on 5 it was backed up in Portland. A lot of people were abusing the rule about only high occupancy vehicles in the left lane. In that kind of traffic it is hard for that to be enforced. Maybe they should try video surveillance. I stopped and had a halibut sandwich and Denise called regarding my stay with her family in the Seattle area . I talked to her for awhile and she mentioned Jose having a crab feed at his fishing club. Sounded like fun and I told her I would definitely do that. This would be another great time to meet some locals.
I made it to Helen’s the couchsurfing lady, around 8:00 and was tired. She wanted to head out to a coffee house for internet access and a coffee. We both had chai tea. The Chai was ok,
but nothing great then again what do I know. I sent out a couple emails and checked on the Rick Steve’s conference location. I was a little confused about the location, but was confident that Helen knew were it was at as she wanted to go along at least for the morning session. She was to meet a friend in the afternoon. We got back to the house and called it a night. I was dog tired.
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