June 2. Crater Lake and head waters of Rogue River

We woke up to a beautiful clear day with blue sky and white fluffy clouds. Our motel person gave us suggestions of where to go to augment our time at Crater Lake. Over 40' of snow fell at the lake this Winter and a lot of it is still there. Only about 5 miles of the 33 miles of rim road are open. They are hoping to have it all open by the end of July. New snow generally starts falling again in October. Like in Yosemite, one enters the park and it is still quite a drive to the real points of interest. With all of the closings, I started to wonder if we would even be able to get close enough to see the lake. OMG! There it is! WOW! 

 Such blue water and the reflections are so perfect! Nick has a hard time pulling me away from that first initial viewpoint. We drive a little further to the lodge. Rocking chairs where you can sit and just imerse in the beauty. It is quiet except for a few birds. The smell of fresh air and pine. Oh, I'm in heaven. We decide to eat at the lodge restaurant. We were able to get a table right next to the window so I could sit and absorb more of the beauty while we waited for our lunch to come. The decor was rustic opulence. Stone walls with big wooden beams. The woodwork around the windows was bark planks. The fire places were huge. If there hadn't been a fire in it, I probably could have almost stood inside it.

 There is one more overlook that we can drive to. I think I may be ODing on beauty. There are kids climbing some of the snow banks and sliding down on their tusches. This is when the saucer sled from White Sands National Park probably would have been useful. The road is gated off but one can still walk past it. Rumor has it that if you walk about 4 miles down the road, you get to the point where drifted snow is blocking the road. We know we don't want to walk that far but there is a smaller lookout point about a mile down the road. That we can do. We're at between 7 and 8,000 feet elevation so the breathing is a bit harder than normal. We walk past a drift along the road that is abouut 15' high! It's a great view looking away from the lake over the valley and ridges of mountains on the other side. Just can't get enough of this! I've seen pictures of this lake since I was a small child and now I'm actually seeing it. Okay, time to move on or I will stay here for hours or days or maybe weeks or months or years.

 When we were on the coast, we were near the Rogue River. The river starts from the melting snow off of Mount Mazama, which is the mountain that holds Crater Lake. so now we're really at the head waters of the river. Here in the spring, the river is raging! At one point, it goes underground through pipes that were formed as the lava cooled. During the spring, those land bridges are covered with water too as there is too much water coming down to all go through the pipes. We stopped at 2 different places to view the river and they both had nice explanations of the geology behind what we were seeing. Not only is the river going REALLY fast but it is also really cold - 44 degrees. If you fall in, your chance of survival is close to zero. 

 We're staying in the valley near Fort Klemoth. What a difference from the topography of this morning. Here it is extremely flat and angus cows are grazing on the verdant grass. It is about 10 degrees warmer here in the valley that up in the mountains. Our motel has a nice playground in front and a gas grill that we can use. Even a tether ball.  Haven’t done that in years!  

 Nick had gotten a nice steak at the grocery store in Gold Beach so he grilled that and we microwaved a couple of potatoes. Top it off with a toll house chocolate chip ice cream sandwich from the motel office. What a wonderful day!!!

May 24 Sacramento

 It seems the days that we’re visiting people, I’m not as apt to get the daily blog written.  Visiting with people is more important than recording what we did that day.  So, it’s about a week later, I have internet and a comfortable place to reflect.  

From Lake Tahoe, we headed back to Sacramento to visit with Ellen and Bob.  We come down from the patches of snow to their place with an inviting swimming pool.  On the way down, we stop at the little town of Auburn for lunch.  It was once a gold mining town.  They have capitalized on that history and have a cute historic center.  We find a parking spot right in front of a local brewery.  Seems rather providential and we go straight in for lunch.  

It’s good to see Ellen and Bob again.  It’s like coming home after being there just a few days earlier.  We decide to spend the afternoon in Old Sacramento.  It is cool that in the middle of modern Sacramento, they still have this old section.  We end up spending all of our time in the train museum.  There is a section dedicated to the Chinese workers who did so much of the really hard and dangerous labor and have gotten little credit for.  Ellen tells me that this is a rather new addition to the museum.  There is also an exhibit on the role that women played in developing the railroad.  There was an old sleeper car and dining car that we were able to go into.  If one was on the top bunk, they had to ring for someone to come and bring a ladder so they could get down.  Better not wait until you REALLY have to go!  

This is posted out of chronological order…..

The dining car was quite elegant.  The cooking part of it was small and very efficient.  They had a system so the waiter who was far from the kitchen, would have the other waiters pass the plates down so they didn’t have to pass in the narrow aisles.  There were displays of the china that was used on different lines.  During the heyday, it was common to see famous people on the trains.  

Upstairs was all model trains.  Dan’s father often had a train set up in their basement.  I remember visiting and his proudly showing it to me.  The car he was the most proud of was the dining car.  You. Could see the lights inside and the people eating at the fancy tables.  I kept looking for a car like this in their display but didn’t find one.  Arthur had the big Lionel trains. Unfortunately, he sold them when Dan was in law school and we were living in an apartment and didn’t have room to store them.  

back at Ellen and Bob’s, we ate desert first.  Ellen made a wonderful cheesecake using her grandmother’s recipe and spring form pan.  Bob fired up the grill and we ate steak and fresh bean salad.  We ate and ran as we needed to get to Valerie and Richard’s for the night.  

May 25. Berkeley to Forest Knolls

 Nick has a zoom meeting this morning with a UUA committee until noon.  Valerie and I take a walk around their neighborhood. There is a nice park about 2 blocks from the house.  There is a group of about 20 moms and tots having a music sitting in a circle outside.  It reminds me a lot of David’s music class.  We stopped by the local art museum.  Unfortunately it was between exhibits and closed.  

Valerie and Richard live in the house that Valerie’s grandfather lived in for many years.  It is an old Sears kit houses.  They live in the upstairs and Richard’s sister and brother-in-law live in the lower apartment for part of the year.  The neighborhood has been there for decades and has some really interesting street art and creative yard art.  It is within walking distance of the university.  Lots of interesting shops and restaurants.  We stop at one of the little galleries.  I fully intend to treat it as a museum but found a cancel holder made out of a branch of redwood.  I do like to support the local economy and local artists……

Valerie had put a pot of lentil soup on to cook before our walk and when we get back, it smells delicious.  Nick is done with his meeting and we have some of that delicious soup before heading off to Forest Knolls where Janet and Alex live and points beyond.  

It’s always fun to cross big bridges.  We don’t end up crossing the Golden Gate on this trip but the bridge we do cross from Berkeley is big and impressive.  It has 2 levels.  The lower one going to Berkeley and the upper one to Merlin County.  I was glad to be on the upper one where we had a better view.  

Janet leads us to a county park very near them where we walked in a redwood stand.  It wasn’t quite as big as I remembered it from previous visits or maybe we were in a bit different part of it.  I had been telling Nick for days about how nice that park is.  I must admit, that it didn’t quite live up to my memory of it.  

From there, Nick and I continued on to Point Reyes where we have an AirBnB for the next 2 nights.  Randy wasn’t there when we arrived but there was a sticky note on the door telling us to come on in and where our room was.  It was a house from the 60’s that Randy bought for his parents to live in when they retired.  It was wonderful and funky.  The back of the house faces the tidal area of the Point Reyes bay and has huge windows all along the probably at least 30’ wall.  So you can really get a good view while sitting, he has built risers for 4 big recliners.  He has his favorite records displayed in another area of the room and there are a bunch of Lego constructions on the table next to the windows.  Our room has 2 big windows looking out at the valley below.  Randy is more than happy to tell you all about anything you ask him. Janet and Alex come out to the AirBnB so they can experience the place too.  They realize that they all shop at the same natural foods store.  I think they will be bumping into each other quite often there.

We go out to eat at a restaurant where Janet’s friend, Joe, is a bartender.  A special appetizer appears on our table.  

June 1. To the environs of Crater Lake

 We enjoy a slow departure from Gold Beach.  It’s only about a 4 1/2 hour drive to our next stop which is Aspen Inn  outside of Crater Lake National Park.  Hmmmm.  Says something when I say “It’s only a 4 1/2 hour drive.  We stop in Brookings for lunch at a place where the Pistol River joins the ocean.  I was looking for seafood until I saw their beautiful wood burning pizza oven.  Nick and I share a pizza - half what he likes and half what I like.  A little after lunch, we make a left turn away from the ocean.  I think that was the point where we started driving back to Atlanta instead of away from Atlanta.  We have about 2 1/2 weeks to make that trek back.  Brookings in the next town down the road from Gold Beach.  It has a more upscale feel about it.  It’s a little bigger and even has a store front office for the Democratic Party.  Interesting how different towns have different personalities.  

The drive is beautiful.  My favorite part is when we’re following a fast moving mountain stream.  Off and on we see the evidence of the fires that kept us away from this area 2 years ago.  Scorched trunks of some threes that made it through and have green branches way up at the top and others that didn’t make it.  Many dead trees have been cut down.  I’m not sure if they can be used or will be burned in a controlled way.  

Yesterday we hiked in the Rogue -Siskiyou National Forest, Near where the river enters the Pacific. Now we’re at the other end of it at the head waters of the Rogue River.  The valley where we’re staying is flat and fertile with cows grazing in green pastures.  In the distance we see a scattered shower.  When we come out of the little grocery store, the scattered shower has reached us.  The late afternoon light on the fields is wonderful but no good place to pull over and take some pictures.  

Lilacs are blooming here!  Lilacs don’t grow well in Georgia and it’s nice to see them and smell them.  There was also a big pile of rhubarb in the little grocery store.  Sure wish I had a way of making a pie.

We heat up left overs that we’ve accumulated.  Red curry and Mexican.  How international…..

We were planning to meet our friends, Heidi and Ellie here and spend the next 2 days with them.  Unfortunately, Ellie came down with Covid and they had to cancel.  It would have been a very different evening laughing, and talking with them.  As it is, it’s a quiet evening with just Nick and me, some Black Russians and popcorn.