It’s clear I’m not getting to as many entries this year as I’d like. It has more to do with a lack of time than material. As ever, we live in increasingly complex and interesting times and with the current general election season, there is no shortage of things to be concerned about.
However, I am making time to add another entry into what has become one of my favorite corners of these pages: our National Parks. This week Ray Ray and I added Crater Lake to our list of parks visited. The moment you crest the ridge of this more-than-two-thousand-year-old volcano and stare down into a blue water whose hue you’re sure you’ve never quite seen before, it becomes clear why we felt the need to protect it and share it.
It’s the middle of June and there is plenty of snowpack still on the ground. Part of the rim road is still not cleared and beyond a certain point, it is closed to vehicular traffic. On foot, however, is another matter, and Ray Ray and I spent one of our days walking around one quarter of it. Snow cleared from the road comprised snow banks twice as tall as me as we walked among trees a hundred feet tall. Stopping at one point we looked Northward and could see the expanse of the pumice desert below, miles of seemingly barren land covered in pumice from the eruption that collapsed this volcano into the water-filled crater it is today. Despite photographs galore, they don’t do justice to seeing it in person. (That was a not-so-subtle hint for you to get out and see this unique corner of America.)
And with that, back to our fast-paced vacation. We are crisscrossing Oregon – one of the few states left on my list to see, but one Ray Ray is thoroughly familiar with as her family has a long tradition of vacationing on the Oregon coast. More to come later.
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