Thursday Pictures:
VacationGirl and family are done "roughing it." They stayed Wednesday night at the Mazuma Motor Inn within the confines of the Crater Lake National Park. The rooms had no phones, no television, no air-conditioning! Couldn't even get a signal for the cell phones. All outdoor trash cans are virtually bolted down because bears frequently come into the camp grounds - right next to the motor inn. Was hoping to see one - from a distance - but Yogi must have been visiting a different part of Crater Lake Wednesday.
VacationGirl, wonderful husband, and almost 16 year-old took a vote on Wednesday morning. It was a unamimous decision to forgo the last few Oregon lighthouses and head inland for Crater Lake. There was a room waiting for us that couldn't be cancelled and dinner reservations at the only restaurant for hours. So when dawn broke on Wednesday morning, she was on the road again, leaving Reedsville and driving through the Umpqua river valley towards Crater Lake.
Crater Lake is spectacular - the pictures do not do it justice. Hopefully, the "real" 35mm pictures will do the color justice - an incredible color of blue. Thoughts of taking the 2 hour boat tour to the island in the middle (hey, sounds like Gilligan's Island) were entertained but quickly discarded when it was discovered that the trail takes a 1,000 foot drop to get to the boat. Down would be ok, but up? No Way! VacationGirl was seeing visions of moutain side helicopter rescues! How embarassing would that be! Even her loving husband and son decided that enough climbing had been done!
In the words of John Ohrenschall - "Climbing would be a great, truly wonderful thing if it weren't for all that damn climbing."
As we waved good-bye to Crater Lake, maps were consulted to find the "best" scenic route to Portland. The Rogue-McKenzie Pass scenic route was chosen - 82 miles from Sisters, Oregon. It took about 5 hours to drive. Well, in VacationGirl's case, it took 5 hours to ride. Along the route were many things to see - most involving climbing - but muscles had 24 hours to rest so they were ready.
In the first Thursday pictures, the 3 sisters mountains are pictured in the distance. Once you get into the Willamette National Forest, there are a ton of lava all around. As you observe Mt Jefferson in the distance, and our four-legged friend we met along the way, you can see all of the lava. At first glance, it just looks like chunks of dirt, but it really is lava - 65 square miles of lava flow. They call this part of Oregon volcano country. (VacationGirl is not quite sure who "they" are but it was in one of her zillions of Oregon travel books so it MUST be true!)
One of the last spots that we stopped at within the Forest was Proxy Falls. Our trusted travel book says that the falls are a short hike into the Three Sisters Wilderness. Hmmm, her experience tells her that "Wilderness" and "short hike" really don't go together. However, since all of the waterfalls on the way to Crater Lake were ignored, (and she caught absolute hell for this) it was decided that this one was a 'must see.' The trail was a mere 1.5 miles. After much huffing and puffing and being totally drenched from sweat, the refreshing sound of water was heard. Then VacationGirl and wonderful husband came to the perverbial 'fork in the road.' She felt like she was on the way to Oz and the scarecrow pointed both directions when ask "which way to Oz." The sign on the tree pointed in both directions to get to Proxy Falls.
Wonderful husband talked her into taking the trail to the right where someone had carved in "lower falls." She has reservations because 'lower' usually means walking DOWN and climbing BACK UP but she goes with the flow this time. But she wants to know where almost 16 year-old is! He went ahead - way ahead - but no one knows which trail he took. Motherly instincts are about to erupt!
Fortunately, wonderful husband was right. (Don't you just hate it when that happens?) After about 5 minutes, we came upon the falls and WOW - it was worth the hour of sweat it took to get there and back! They were beautiful. And better yet - way down where VacationGirl refuses to venture (her view is wonderful from where she is) is the almost 16-year old! He was up getting wet under the falls - where lo and behold - another family was there - one that just happened to have a teen age girl with them! We now have pictures of her at the falls too! Twenty years from now, we'll all be sitting around, scratching our heads, wondering who this young girl is!
So, after viewing the falls, we completed the trail and collasped at the car - after all, it is the hottest day of 2005 for the area. Boy, do we know how to plan vacation times!
After the falls, we had a 4 hour drive - we wanted to be east of Portland for the night so we could branch out to Mt. Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. Budget Rentals will wonder where in the heck their poor car has been - we've logged over 1000 miles in 4 days - and we're not done yet.
Wonderful husband and VacationGirl have noticed an interesting phenominom in Oregon. When one pulls in to those lovely roadside refueling centers, commonly known as gas stations, one cannot pump their own gas. Apparently, this is unheard of in Oregon. Someone will always be there to pump it for you. Hmmm, is this why gas is SO much more here? $2.41 to #2.69 a gallon!
As an interesting side note - on Tuesday, while passing through Lincoln City and then again today while driving up I5 towards Portland, VacationGirl and family passed the 45th parallel - we were exactly half way between the Equator & the North Pole! Maybe that explains why she's hot, then cold, then hot, then cold, then hot.....
Oh well - enough for today. Friday starts the 2nd half of the trip - with either Mt Hood or Columbia River Gorge drive on the agenda - one Friday, the other Saturday. VacationGirl is thinking some snow would feel really good right now!
See ya tomorrow!
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