Wednesday - We left the
Southern Oregon RV Park (Jackson County does a wonderful job with their parks)
around 10ish. We took Highway 62 for
most of the trip past farm country, mountains and open meadows and forests. Sooo many campgrounds but then there are
sooo many RV’s and campers.
Arrived at
our home for the next 2 nights (with no cell service or Wifi) at 2:30 and
settled in at the Diamond Lake RV Park.
Very tall trees and across the road is Diamond Lake – beautiful.
Had lunch
and then a change of plans and instead of exploring this area, we took off for
Crater Lake. As s we came around a curve and saw Crater Lake.....it was truly amazing and a very strong ooh and aah moment. We have seen so much beauty throughout Washington
and Oregon but when we first laid eyes on Crater Lake…………oh my....absolutely stunning! We sighed said “oh wow”, got out of Big Red and started snapping away with the camera and phones.
It is a
33-mile trip around the rim of the lake.
A big chunk of that time is spent away from the lake but when you are in
view of the lake, there are several spots you can turn off and savor those views and color
of the lake – deep rich navy blue surrounded by the mountains (many with snow
on top).
Some history
on Crater Lake – at its deepest point, it is 1,943’ deep (deepest lake in the
US and 9th deepest in the world).
7,700 years ago, a massive volcanic eruption left a deep basin where a
mountain peak once stood. Centuries of
rain and snow filled the basin, forming a deep blue lake whose waters are pf
unmatched color and clarity. Crater Lake is one of the snowiest places in the US with an average yearly snowfall of 43' which is the equivalent of 1.4" every day for a year!!!
We stopped
at Rim Village and walked around – had wanted to go inside the Crater Lake
Lodge which is rustic and beautiful (according to our friend, Bill who grew up
about 80 miles nearby). But not meant
to be, as signs on the doors, said “registered guests only”…..makes sense,
but….disappointed. However, we were so glad we came mid afternoon as the crowds weren't bad and never a problem pulling off and finding a parking spot to do more oohing and aahing and picture taking.
Back to Flo
around 5:30 – we are tired as it’s been a long day, but we will savor this scenery for a long time to come.
Amazing how
the temperatures change – today was very pleasant in the upper 70’s – and saw
several piles of snow on the mountain tops and along the roadways.
I had a
really bad earache along much of the trip today…..the higher elevation didn’t
help as we climbed to 7700’. Finally
the ibuprofen kicked in…
Mark
commented that CA diesel prices are $1 per gallon more than OR; and so, we did
not fuel up in CA.
Also did not know that Brookings, OR is the Easter Lily capital of the world!
Here are just a few of many pics taken today...
Several of these walls of rock?
Crater Lake
Several piles of snow here and there - temp was 78
Making a snowball
Thursday - Another fun scenic day in Oregon…weather was perfect at 73
degrees with crystal clear deep blue skies.
We packed a picnic lunch, had pancakes and sausage and then drove to a
parking lot just outside our park.
Walked across the street to the Blue Diamond Trail in the Umpqua
National Forest and set off on a wonderful paved trail. We started off along Diamond Lake with Mt.
Thielsen in the background and then deeper into the woods. Wow…..beautiful and sooo very pleasant.
My favorite hiking buddy
Diamond Lake
Meadow with Mt. Thielsen
This trail winds around the lake 11 miles (we met 5
different bikers), but we took a much slower pace and definitely did not go 11
miles. Ha…
Back to Big Red and headed out to the Rouge Gorge and
Beckie’s (the only restaurant along the way to Diamond or Crater Lakes). We were told there were no food or gas
services except for Beckie’s other than at the lodges at Diamond or Crater
Lakes. This was a 24-mile trip. We’ve been following the Rouge River
yesterday and today and wow…..to see this gorge, was another “happy” site for
we campers.
Rogue Gorge
Pretty yellow flowers all along the road (Highway 230)
Flo is settled among the tall pine trees at Diamond Lake RV Park
Beckie’s was carry
out only, several picnic tables, and quite a few people. Reading about Beckie’s and their good
comfort food and specialty pies (huckleberry) made this a “let’s try it”;
however, we parked, enjoyed our little picnic lunch in Big Red and then I stood
in line for 2 slices of pie to go; all wearing masks and social-distancing but line
was moving slowly and decided to forget it!
We came back to Flo and made ourselves ice cream sundaes.
With no cell service or Wifi, we’ve been reading our books
more than usual these past 2 days….boy, I can’t imagine traveling without my
Kindle – have been reading up a storm this summer all stored on this small
device. I remember back in the day packing oodles of books on long trips (boating in the summertime). Most of the time when we are
truckin’ on down the road, I’ve got my nose in my kindle…..not the past few
weeks, though…..don’t want to miss a minute of this incredible scenery.
My little "gem"
Interestingly, back
in July 2016, when we were in Seattle for the Blue Angels, we drove (just
barely) into Oregon, stepped out of the car and I could officially say “I’ve
now been in all 50 states!” And then
we went back to Seattle……so, here we are 4 years later and seeing sooo much of
this magnificent state and I could easily say “I saved the best for last”! There’s
just so much beauty here in our good ole USA and this summertime trip has proven
again, that you cannot beat all that God has created wherever we may roam. Each region has something unique and
special.
We are so very thankful we are able to do this trip,
especially with Covid and all the scary, awful stuff going on this summer.
We miss going into restaurants for a nice meal, strolling
the streets in these cute little towns and checking out the shops and ice cream stops. We've not asked anyone to use our phones to take a picture of us.....miss that, but trying to be sensible. Mark does not like taking selfies and of course, our selfie stick is on Catrina. Getting our almost “daily”
coffee fix was only because they were drive-thru or we parked Flo and I “walked
up” and got in line with the cars at the window! With all the competition up here (oodles and oodles of tiny little spots), my skinny vanilla latte is usually 1/2 the price of Starbucks and just 96 calories! 😊
Friday - Woke up to 45 degrees and this gorgeous sky...
Bye bye to all this beauty but we hear we're gonna love Central OR, too.
We traveled mostly on Highway 97 today and wow....check out this straight road. My driver loved it as we have not had anything close to this since leaving Route 2 in Washington.
We stopped in LaPine for coffees and a marion berry scone at "Central Perk". Mark went to DQ (close to our park) for sandwiches for late lunch.
We had just 108 miles to Redmond, OR and staying the next 3 nights at the Deschutes County RV Park (home to the Deschutes County fairgrounds).
Just a few of the very nice, neat buildings at the fairgrounds No county fair this year.
We went for a walk. The airport's flight pattern is right over our park. As Alaskan Air plane just flew over as I'm writing this.
The weather is so pleasant - 82 with a nice breeze. Nothing like going from 56 to 104 to 79 - all because of the ocean and mountains. Some areas are very dry; others, nice and green.
After missing our technology for 2 days (although not hearing all the negative news, politics, Covid #'s on the increase, etc. was kinda nice), we are back to the modern age with our devices!!
We are just 12 miles from Bend, OR and have heard so much about this town - our sister-in-law, Beth has family living there (mother and brother); friends Bob and Martha have family there and Michael has visited and always told us how much he enjoyed it. So.....that's our plan for the weekend.
Hope yours is a happy, healthy one!
