Day 13 – Crater Lake and Portland

On the night before we head out from Mt. Shasta on Thursday morning, I get a text from David Healy, my cousin, who’s house we are staying at in Portland. He suggests we consider swinging by Crater Lake on the drive up. We do, and its yet another home run. The “detour” to Crater Lake turns out to be an incredible experience. We feel like we are the only car on the highway for 100 miles. The road snakes through dense green mountains and forests; the trees are millions of giant green needles pointing upward, shading us from the sun that hangs in a sky that gets bluer and bluer as we draw closer to the lake.

Then I say, “Hey. Snow.”

Patches of snow that dot the roadside. We go a few more miles and again I say, “Hey. Snow.” Only now the tone in my voice is more than just one of curiosity.

We put in a few more miles, and I can’t help it:

“Hey! Snow!”

Yes, I included exclamation points in there. By the time we reach the lake, the snow was 12 feet high at the sides of the road. The view of the lake is incredible, and again, except for a few other hearty souls and a dog, we feel like we have the National Park to ourselves.

We reach Portland by 3:30 in the afternoon and are welcomed into David and Sherry’s beautiful home. Their deck, in a strange way, reminds me of Lynn and Sandy’s deck in Highlands, NJ, which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and the Manhattan skyline. Except David’s deck looks out on the wide Oregon expanse and the awesome (and I do mean awesome) view of Mount Hood. It’s painted in snow, from the summit seemingly all the way to its base. At one point we were all inside the house and David came into the room and said, “Hey everyone, we turned on the light’s for you,” and we looked out to see the mountain bathed in beams of afternoon sunlight throughout he encroaching clouds. Like I said. Awesome. (Later on I’ll be kicking myself for not taking enough pictures.)

The night continues with the addition of more family (Joyce and Wes, Thatcher, and friends Carly and David) around the table, eating Sherry’s incredible dinner: chicken, asparagus, salad, cornbread stuffing. So good. And finally, talking late into the early morning, catching up after so many years apart. We love hearing about what’s happening in their world, and having them share their knowledge of the area.

This trip just keeps getting better and better.


Song of the day: Mother Nature’s Son by The Beatles.

5 comments

Snoooooow! Wow, what a treat. The panoramic photo is amazing – I hope you have more. Did Laura fall in love with the snow dog in the picture? OK now Crater Lake is on my list places to go. I need to get out my film camera just so I can shoot slide film to get the deep blue of the sky.

Another fabulous place on your fabulous trip. Good for you guys! Reminds me of our two month cross-country and Canada motor home summer when we were at Nags Head. Great memories revisited

Keep on enjoying and blogging!

So sorry we didn’t have time to see you on our travels. But I’m glad the blog is bringing back fond memories. We are having an incredible time!

Donna GIlbert

Tommy and I stopped to see Crater Lake as well. It is one of my favorite spots of the trip. Our pictures are a bit different as we were there in September but I believe no matter when you are there the view is always beautiful!

Snow, Snow, SNOW. Amazing for May. I saw Crater Lake in the month of July. Quitw a different scene.

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