It's was really tough to leave the Oregon Coast...or at least the ocean. It's a reminder we're heading home. Not that we became one with nature or swam with the dolphins or were attacked by sharks. It's just the ocean holds a certain fascination we don't get to experience at home. We were so fortunate to go up the coast of California and head down the coast of Oregon a few weeks later. We saw the high and low tides, the appearing and disappearing of beaches and slept to the crashing sounds of the waves. And, we got to see surfer dudes hangin' 10 (yeah, I know, that's a 60's term that nobody uses anymore but maybe I'll bring that back along with Merlot. Or, maybe not).  

The next natural beauty on our list is Crater Lake, Oregon.  We can't make it in one day so at the recommendation of our Vancouver host, we drove through the Cascade Mountains to Klamath Falls. We actually have to go a bit out of our way but it's the only lodging for miles. Plus, according to our Vancouver host, the falls are worth seeing. We got ourselves situated in one of the greatest Best Westerns ever...expanded hot breakfast (with biscuits and gravy), soup and sandwiches in the afternoon and freshly baked cookies at 8...all included.  Yep, last I checked I'm still unemployed and based on the room price and this menu,  I can pretty much live here cheaper than home.  I will weigh 437 lbs. by summer,  but I could move in. 

Anyway, as we planned our route to Crater Lake we wanted to make sure to catch a glimpse of the falls on our way out. It dawned on us that as we drove around Klamath Lake on the way to the greatest Best Western ever, we never saw any falls. And Klamath Lake is big; the biggest fresh water lake in Oregon. But we just didn't remember even seeing a sign for the Klamath Falls or "get your Klamath Falls t-shirt here."  So Lisa inquired at the desk. Interesting fact...there haven't been any falls in Klamath since 1951. How is it these falls went from a recommended sight to a place that doesn't even exist? Oh yes, we called Vancouver to inquire about how much she knew about these famous Klamath Falls. After she back-peddled for a few minutes, we fired her. Now I have to fact check everything we were told about Canada. Was there really an ice storm in Stanley Park? Is hockey the best sport in the world? Are Canadians really better than Americans? I'll go back and research and re-post if I find anything contrary to what was already printed. 

Huge, beautiful Crater Lake awaits us. This time of year you can only hope to get a glimpse of the deepest lake in the United States because there is only one way in and out and that's only if the roads are plowed. This place gets 600 inches of snow a year; and those 600 inches take 4 months to clean-up so they start in April just to get ready for the summer tourist season. Once again, we are lucky because the sun was out after a huge snowfall so we were able to get up the mountain pass to see it with hopes to snowshoe while we were in the area. 

Crater Lake is essentially the inside of an erupted volcano that collapsed into itself. The lava settled at the bottom, cooled and is now a seal that holds the rain and snow, creating a sapphire-blue lake.  Now this happened about 8,000 years ago, which makes it another one of those natural wonders that makes you stop and think. And that's exactly what we did. We had to climb up a snow drift so we could stop and think about how spectacular the color was. And we stopped to think about how clean the water must be. We thought about how beautiful the scenery was.  Then we thought about how cold it was when there isn't anything to protect you from the blustery wind.  Then we thought about how our plans to snowshoe were slowly disappearing.  Then we thought about how fast we could get off this snow drift and over to the snack shop for a hot chocolate. Don't get me wrong, it was worth the trip for sure. But, for anyone else thinking about going, I might recommend waiting the 4 months for the plows to clear the 600 inches of snow so you can hang out for more than 7 minutes.