Digital Nomad Summer - Part 7

Click here for Part 6.

In the last blog installment, Mom and I left Florence, OR, traveling along the coast to Newport, then ended up in Roseburg for the evening.

I mean, I guess it's kinda pretty...

We got on the road a bit earlier on Wednesday morning, since our drive to Crater Lake National Park would take about two hours each way; even though it was only about 100 miles, most of it was on a curvy road through the Umpqua National Forest, and the going would be slow.  Before we left, we grabbed some shots of our Airbnb for Tuesday and Wednesday night, Bella's Cottage in Roseburg.  What a great place!

We had our own cottage, including two bedrooms, a galley kitchen,

and a full-size washer and dryer (of which I made very good use)

Part of the front yard; that's lavender in the middle - so many lovely things in bloom

Peeking out the kitchen window at the back yard

The road from Roseburg to Crater Lake ran along the Umpqua River, and although it was gorgeous, you could tell this area suffered from frequent rockslides.

The Umpqua River

Cleaning debris off the road from a recent slide

That's Diamond Lake - the observation/rest area is just outside the entrance to Crater Lake

We made it!

Crater Lake was created when a volcano erupted, and the lake that remains today is the leftover caldera.  The lake isn't fed by any rivers; instead, it gets all of its water from rainfall and snowmelt.  That keeps it crazy blue in color, and it's hard to capture it in photos; that didn't stop us from trying, to be sure.

Wizard Island inside of Crater Lake.

The lake only has two islands, and this is the much larger one.

Also, yes, those are patches of snow along the coastline -

part of the 33-mile road that rings the park was still closed when we visited in mid-July

DUE TO SNOW CLEARING.

When I planned what I was going to wear to Crater Lake,

I saw that the elevation was 6100'.

I didn't realize that lake's SURFACE is 6100' in elevation,

so where you're standing in the park was around 7500' most of the time.

We were lucky it was bright sunshine, as it could have been really cold.

After getting our initial peeks at the Lake, we headed past the main visitor center/lodge area and out to the eastern side of the park.  It was lunchtime, and we had our eyes on the Videa Falls picnic area.

The namesake falls - quite lovely

What happens when a lowland bag of chips moves to 7000' of elevation

There was still quite a bit of snow hanging around,

so we had to stomp around in it a bit

Just as a reminder, it was 115 in Phoenix on this day.  Kisses to everyone back home!

Someone's keeping an eye on us

The super green bits here are spruce tips, 

which some beer brewers will use in lieu of hops.

After enjoying lunch, we hopped back in the rental car and took the eastern rim road as far as we could, to Sun Notch, which served as the lookout spot for the second of the two islands inside Crater Lake, known as Phantom Ship.  Although it was crystal clear the day we visited, Crater Lake is sometimes covered in deep fog or mist, and the smaller island can look like a ghostly galleon during those times.  There's a short trail leading to the viewpoint; even though it's only .5 miles each way, it's at 7100' and much of it is exposed to the sun, so we took it slow.

That's Phantom Ship down there in the lake.

Even though it looks small from up here, it's actually the height of a 16 story building.

It's also made of some of the oldest rocks in the park (400,000 years).

You guys can clearly tell I don't edit these photos,

so the water really is that freaking blue.  It's crazy.

We made a quick stop at the main visitor center/souvenir shop to grab a t-shirt and sticker (I have a new water bottle, so this trip is helping to get it decorated), but then it was out of the park and down the mountain back to Bella's Cottage in Roseburg.  I'd brought a cooler from the rig on our adventure, and we'd been collecting leftovers along the way, so we stayed in for the evening, enjoying a smorgasbord dinner of chicken tikka masala, green salad, half of a turkey BLTA, pasta salad, basmati rice, and tater tots, all of which paired well with another great Willamette Pinot Noir (from WillaKenzie Vineyards).

Noms!

For his part, Chris and the girls did their normal thing, taking a few strolls around William Tugman State Park, and working outside for part of the day.

Tugman was a great location - although the trees made internet connectivity challenging,

they provided shade and a good wind break.

It was right off the 101, so while the road noise was there, it was minimal.

When you walked or drove around the campground, the sites felt kind of close together,

but once you were in your site, it was spacious and removed from the folks next door.

Also, the lake was lovely, there was plenty of room to romp with the girls,

and the showers were warm and free.

8/10 - would stay again!

On the next blog, Mom and I finish up our mother-daughter adventure, reuniting with Chris and the girls.  Also, Mom stays in a yurt, Zoe swims in the lake, and Bea avoids it like the plague!

Later!

Amy