West Coast Road Trip: Crater Lake

Since Salt Lake City School District postponed the start of school until after Labor Day, our family embarked on one final road trip at the end of August.  Ever since discovering Cannon Beach on the way home from the West coast a couple years ago, I've longed to explore the Oregon coast a bit more.  We headed West on I-80 and discovered this strange concrete sculpture just about 25 miles before the Utah/Nevada border.

Wikipedia tells me it is called Metaphor: The Tree of Life and was created by a Swedish artist Karl Momen in the 1980s.  If nothing else, it definitely breaks up the monotony of the Bonneville Salt Flats.  

Visibility on our trip West was definitely hindered by smoke from wildfires (and smashed bugs on the windshield.)  At the time we had no idea how serious the fires would become.  I do remember Jason and I talking about how dry everything seemed and how easily fire could spread.

We spent our first two nights at a Springhill Suites in Medford, Oregon, a city with about 80,000 residents.  While our stay was lovely, I feel sad and worried as I think about this beautiful Rogue Valley today.  A couple weeks after our stay, much of the town was evacuated due to encroaching fires.  Here's a current image showing just how close the fires are burning.

The poor air quality in the West has been unprecedented, setting new records for pollutants with multiple days of the worst air in the world.  Rumor has it that the smoke has reached all the way to Europe.  My asthma certainly knows that it's affecting Utah.  There is no doubt that the fires are getting worse. So can we elect a president that takes climate change seriously?  For the love of our land, please.

Back to happier memories, we enjoyed some tasty burritos and horchata from this taco truck in Medford.

This was the store next door.  You know you're in Oregon when...

The following day, the kids and I explored Crater Lake while Jason stayed back in the hotel to take care of work.  We really appreciated his making the trip with us at all since he was super swamped with projects.

Brooklyn drove us up beautiful highway 62 where we pulled off just outside of the park to explore Rogue Gorge.

What a delightful gem to stumble upon!

The Rogue River rushes and falls through this narrow gorge before opening up to the expanse below.

Inside Crater Lake National Park, the air was a bit hazy from smoke, but you could still see the lake so we considered it a win.  A couple days prior, it was obscured completely.

We found the Oregonians to be very careful about masking up, even on the trails, so we tried to return the favor.

Oh, I adore this crew!

At a ranger's recommendation, we hiked Garfield Peak.  Beautiful overlooks!

A glimpse of the Phantom Ship.

I love the reflection of the clouds in the water.  

At the summit.

I may be partial, but I think these munchkins are the best.

I have such poignant memories of visiting Crater Lake with my own family as child.  The water was the most vivid blue I'd ever seen!  

Being unaccustomed to volcanoes, my kids were astonished to read about the history of Crater Lake.  Prior to its eruption, Mount Mazama stretched to more than 12,000 feet, the highest peak in Oregon.  Just 7700 years ago, it spewed out 12 square miles of magma, leaving a crater five miles wide.  This crater is so deep that the lake holds almost the same amount of cubic water as our shallow Great Salt Lake.  Mind blown.  

I hope my own children remember this visit fondly, coming back with their kids someday.

If nothing else, they are sure to remember stopping at Annie Creek for some ice cream on our way out.

Ice cream may not solve all the world's problems, but it certainly helps.