6/29-6/30/2017 - Crater Lake

Thursday - It was a chilly night, and a chilly morning (47 degrees), and the entire day probably stayed in the 70s, it was lovely. We didn't plan much for today, so I took a walk down by the river after breakfast and spotted a few things:  a duck with 3 babies, the osprey(?) and an eagle, and a river otter.  Could not get a picture of the otter.

 This eagle flew right over the top of me but I couldn't find him in my viewfinder until he got further away.

The mountain off the west appears to be losing a lot of its snow cap, although I wondered if it got a little more snow last night since it got so cold here.

Collins and Joe made the short drive up to the logging museum, and spent several hours here.  I drove the girls to the casino so Mazie could spend David's free money, then we stopped at the market in town and came home to get ready for our cookout tonight.  We actually sat outside in our lawn chairs for a while before Marilyn lit the grill, and we ate outside -- real campers!

We reconfigured our kitchen to try to accommodate 6 card players again.  This time, Collins brought over a smaller folding table, and some boards to level it out a little.

 Since Joe was the photographer and didn't get in the photo, he took a selfie to add to the mix.

 Friday - Our plan today was to make the drive to Crater Lake, leaving at 9:00.  We are all using the campground's showers and restrooms as much as we can since we are not hooked up to sewer, so Dave went over early to get his shower.  Unfortunately, the hot water was not working in the shower he used, so he had a really quick shower.  When he reported it, he found out that the other shower had hot water, it was just the handicapped one that he had used that wasn't working.  Mazie opted to shower in their RV rather than risk the cold water.   So we loaded up into 2 cars, Dave drove his, and headed out.  Our first scenic viewpoint was Annie Falls, which we could see in the distance.

Next we stopped at the pretty visitor center and got some more maps.  They still have the eastern rim road closed due to snow, and there is road construction (with up to 30-minute delays) on the western rim road, but off we went.

Here's our first look at beautiful Crater Lake! And I love the mirror image of the snow-capped mountains reflected in the water.  It was hard to see where the water ended and the mountains began.  Crater Lake, at 1,943 feet, is the deepest lake in North America.  Located in the Cascade Mountain Range in South Central Oregon, it's depth give it a shade of blueness that no photo can capture.  It became a National Park in 1902, 49 years after it was discovered. 

 Panoramic shot.

There is still plenty of snow around, some in small patches, and some in snowbanks.

Joe spotted a cross-country skier and I thought I might have seen a snowman but it was pretty far away.
The lake was absolutely breath-taking, so we took lots of pictures.  We stopped at a couple of different viewpoints so we got some different angles.  And we even saw a boat out on the lake.  I first thought it was a duck, it was that far away.

 I think this next photo is my favorite.

And more pictures.

We saw a few unfamiliar birds, and a chipmunk came to see if we had any food.

As we left our last viewpoint, Mazie tried to hit Collins with a snowball (she missed).

We had an expensive sandwich at the village restaurant, then headed home.  Joe and I took a walk down to the river and got a closer look at the boats they use here -- they call them drift boats.  They seem to be able to maneuver them pretty easily in these shallow rivers.

And of course, after dinner we played cards again.  Last night the girls won. Tonight the guys won.

Marilyn left their windows open when we left this morning, and the sprinklers came on and got the back of their sofa wet.  We forgot to open our windows or turn on the A/C, so our RV was pretty hot when we got back, but we were probably lucky that we forgot to open the windows.  This campground has really been a great place to have some downtime.  We don't have any plans for the July 4 holiday, and with all the forests around here I don't know if Klamath Falls will have them or not, but we should probably look into that tomorrow.  I think Joe has another drive in mind, and there's a miniature railroad museum right up the road that is on tomorrow's agenda.