Crater Lake and more - July 24 & 25

My mom and step-dad have always wanted to visit Crater Lake so it was quite convenient that their daughter and family moved to Oregon so we could all make it a family trip! We've realized that Southern Oregon is actually a nice midpoint between our home bases so this trip is sure to be first in hopefully many more adventures discovering the Southern Oregon area. And boy was it memorable! Crater Lake is a caldera lake (lake formed by a volcanic eruption) created about 7,700 years ago. At a depth of 1943 feet, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and 9th deepest in the world. It gets an average of 44 feet of snow each year (some of which was still on the ground during our visit in July!) and its water is some of the purest and clearest found anywhere in the world. Our visit was on a day with blue, blue skies with very little breeze and the many shades of blues of the water were remarkable. The clear, still water showed reflections of the clouds, trees and cliffs, and you could even see through the water to the bottom in the shallow areas surrounding the island. We drove the 33 miles around the rim, taking our sweet time and doing it in about 2 1/2 hours. After a while the pictures all start to have a similar look, but here are some of the highlights!

Look closely - it's not just the reflection you can see, but over to the right you can see the graduated slope of the lake floor beneath the surface of the lake!

Vidae Falls

We had to take a picture of the trolley for our little train and trolley fan. Sure would be a way to tour around the lake in style!

We continued the adventure by caravanning southwest to Medford and along the way stopping at the Rogue River Gorge near historic Union Creek on Highway 62. The sound is indescribable: a constant crashing of water coursing through its collapsed lava tubes. You certainly have to raise your voice quite a bit to be heard, but then again, what did we have to say? We just watched and listened in awe as gallons of water swooshed by each second. (By the way, this scenic stop is right next to a well-known pie stop: Beckie's Cafe. We can attest to the scrumptious berry pies - yum!!)

The next morning we shared our favorite Ashland restaurant with my parents: the Ashland original, the Breadboard! It's the kind of local establishment where the servers know all the customers and harass everyone in sight. The menu is incredible and practically every dish is served with a little cup of their famous homemade marionberry jam. You have to get something with bacon, or at least order it on the side - it's the best you'll ever have: thick, crunchy, savory - I'm torturing myself right now thinking about it and that jam. Here's Leif and Joshua, playing their favorite parlor trick of hiding Leif's watch and picking the right hand to find it.

The trip ended with a great walk around Lithia Park where we amazingly took no pictures at all. Oh well - guess we'll have to plan another trip - maybe in the fall when the leaves start displaying their amazing colors!