Crater Lake National Park

6/23/2010
Left Glacier KOA around 10am.  Drove down Hwy 93 until we reached the Hwy28 junction.  This 41 mile stretch of road was terrible with lots of road construction the entire stretch.  It took us 4 hours to complete  about 100 miles.  Drove for nine hours until we reached Pasco, WA.  Gained an hour at the Idaho state line.  Drive thru Idaho was pretty but continuous steep climbs to steep declines.  Beautiful lake by the road surrounded by heavily forested mountains.  Really hills when you compare them to the Teton's.  Stopped for lunch by the side of the road on Hwy 395.  Pretty uneventful day except for all the delays due to road construction.  Checked in to the Pasco KOA around 6pm pdt  Had dinner and then headed for the Hot tub.  It was inside and not nearly as enjoyable as the sitting in the one at Glacier KOA


6/24/2010
We left Pasco, WA around 9:45am.  We had a routine but enjoyable drive through southern Washington and down thru Central Oregon.  We drove a long way beside the Columbia River.  We stopped alongside the road for a quick sandwich and then Esther made us a Sundae using the last of the Vanilla Bean ice cream, fresh strawberries, sliced banana's and Hershey's chocolate syrup.  Yum. Yum.

We pulled into a Shell station for diesel this afternoon.  To get to the correct pump I had to make a sharp turn.  I got the truck next to the spout and the trailer out of the street, but I could see I was going to have trouble getting out.  The station had an attendant which should have been my first clue.  Once filled, I paid inside to find I bought diesel at $3.29/gallon.  The highest we had paid prior to today was $3.18.  Gulping a lot, I pried out the discover card and paid what was due, the first fill up costing more than $100.  I then had to maneuver out of the tight spot I got myself in.  With some help from the attendant, I finally got out and then Esther took over the driving for the rest of the day.  We stopped outside of Madras, OR where we viewed a 300'  gorge and an old wooden train bridge.

I sure wouldn't want to be in the train that went over that bridge.  However, the mountains behind the bridge were snow covered and almost white all the way down.  A beautiful range of mountains that I think we will be in when we get to Crater Lake National Park.



We stopped at the Sisters BendKOA near Bend, OR.  Drove through Redmond, OR on the way, but didn't get a chance to stop and say Hello to Bill Gates.  The KOA is beautiful with flat paved sights and paved interior roads.  It has a beautiful pond and we hope to use the Hot Tub in a few minutes.

6/25/2010
After trying to find camping sites in Klamath Falls, OR in order to stay somewhat near Crater Lake, we decided to take a maintenance day at the KOA in Bend/Sisters, OR.  This KOA is the most beautiful I have ever seen or stayed in.

  Since we couldn't get reservations in Klamath Falls tonight, we decided to restock our pantries and do laundry.  However, though the KOA had a site for us to stay in, we could not stay in our original site 59.  We moved from the original site to site 46.  The site was about the same, but they had reserved the site we were originally in to be next to another RV coming in so they could be together.  We actually had a great view of the lake in the new site.  We drove into Bend OR to discover a thriving community of 80,000.  We drove all the way through town to get to the one and only Walmart.  Once inside, we learned this was not a super center, but was scheduled to become one.  As it was, it had limited food items and we soon decided to complete our purchases at Albertson's.
We went to the Pizza Hut for lunch then went to Alberstons.  "Never could find single-serve coffee pods at Walmart, Albertson's, or Safeway.  Guess Esther will have to dilute the Columbian.

I dropped off Esther at the laundry so she could get a start, then went to the trailer to put away the provisions.  Especially the ice cream.  I switched to a swim suit and found Esther's and went back to the laundry.  We finished up the laundry and then went to the hot tub for half an hour.  It was back to the trailer for dinner and a relaxing rest in the loungers.   We then got back into swim suites and went back to the Hot Tub for a final dip.  We then came back to the trailer, watched a little TV, and went to bed.

 6/26/2010
We left the KOA Bend/Sisters, OR at 9:15 this morning and arrived at the KOA in Klamath Falls, OR about noon.  We set up camp, ate lunch, then were off to see Crater Lake National Park, which is about 70 miles away.  Esther saw me at my worst today.  It was a very scary drive both up and down, however I maintained my cool on the way up.  We saw a doe eating beside the road on the way up.  Seeing Crater Lake was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.  I have seen pictures of this lake for ever, and I am here to tell you, they don't hold a candle to actually seeing this sapphire blue lake.  The color is amazing as is the surrounding mountain tops along the rim.  It is just too beautiful to describe and I can only hope the pictures will come close to doing it justice.  Only the west rim was open, but we were told that the west rim is the most scenic.  We drove up to the Watchman's Overlook, stopping at several of the scenic outlooks on the way.  I had a pretty rough time, because of the steep drop offs, but made it to the top without driving Esther crazy, though I did make her back the truck away from the rim before I would get in.  The pictures speak for themselves.

The trip down was quite different.  I learned what it was like to be overcome by a phobia  And "Esther learned what it was like to drive down a narrow, steep, winding road with a passenger very near to a full-fledged panic attack.  I could not look out toward to the solid side of the mountain, I could not look down the steep cliffs on my side of the truck.  I could not shut my eyes, because I imagined worse than was actually happening to me.  Esther tried to cope with my incessant demands to get the truck further from my side of the truck (the drop off side) and go slower.  "When we were basically through the bad part, she pulled over a turnout to let the other cars go by her.  It was here that a park ranger informed her she was riding with her wheels over the yellow line.  I didn't tell him so, but I thought that if the Park Service would make the roads twice as wide, he wouldn't have that problem. .

6/27/2010
We went to First United Methodist Church of Klamath Falls, OR. This is a beautiful old downtown church build in 1929.  It is suffering many of the same problems of First of Bartlesville, no Parking, an entrance which is hard to find, and an aging congregation.  The folks there were very friendly.  The congregation takes it upon itself to introduce visitors to the rest of the congregation during the worship service so we had several ask about Esther and I so they would be able to introduce us.  The Sanctuary was filled with stained glass windows.  When we went back into it after the service to take pictures, one of the men came up to us and told us his mother was on the committee which chose the windows.  When I commented he must have been brought up in the church, he smiled and said he couldn't ever get away from it.  All the people we talked with displayed pride in their church.

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We went to Walmart after the service and bought some 4th of July shirts and shorts, picked up coffee pods (finally found them and bought lots), some eggs and bacon.  We came home where Esther fixed us a light lunch of fruit and cheese.  A glass of Zinfandel really hit the spot.  The rest of the afternoon was filled with getting this blog up-to-date and pictures loaded.  Thank goodness we finally found a KOA with good WiFi.