It's a good thing we'd made that big Costco stop, because the amount of food these kids can put away is NO JOKE.
You haven't seen an appetite, like the appetite of a teenage boy who has a growth spurt of several (six??) inches in a year. When we started this trip, William was south of six feet tall, but by the time we finished it - he shot up like a beanstalk and was eye-to-eye with his Dad at 6'1.
Every morning, I'd be amazed that he was actually bigger than he'd been the night before. I remember people telling me, when I was younger, that I was changing before their very eyes ... and I always thought they were a little crazy. But seeing it actually happen is something else.
Now I'm the one who is crazy!
Knowing that we'd be gone for several hours, we packed a HEARTY lunch and a lot of snacks, and took off for the National Park entrance, which was just up the road from our campsite.
This visit was a bittersweet one for us. Our initial plan was that my sister, Eileen, in Michigan - would drive to meet us in Oregon at Crater Lake, with two of her three kids, Tommy and Diana. Tommy and Diana's birthdays are both in June - Diana's is actually on 6/20 - and since she'd just graduated with her degree in Geology, we thought Crater Lake would be the PERFECT place for a socially-distanced brouhaha. But their RV rental fell through at the last minute, and they were unable to make the trip.
(Since Eileen wound up buying her own RV a few weeks later - we'll make it a reality to meet up at another epic National Park, sometime soon!)
Like so many of our incredible National Parks, the first time you lay your eyes on the crown jewel of the park, your heart skips a beat and you might feel weak in the knees. It is quite literally breathtaking to see Mother Nature in her splendor. Crater Lake was no different.
Visiting these parks is really a sacred experience. No picture will ever capture the beauty and reverence one feels when you visit a place like this ... but if the 276 photographs I have on my camera from this particular day are any evidence, that certainly didn't stop me from trying.
Crater Lake is the remnant of a caldera (lava chamber) that was beneath the volcanic mountain, Mount Mazama. Nearly 7,700 years ago, when native Americans were roaming this area, the mountain collapsed forming a caldera, following a huge volcanic eruption. The caldera filled in with rainwater and snowmelt, forming what has become the deepest lake in the United States at 1,949 feet. Because there are no streams flowing in or out of it, it is also one of the cleanest and clearest lakes in the world.
The water reflects the sky, which on this day was a perfect blue.
My mother commented that this picture of Charlie, describing the geologic history of the area to the kids, looks like the Sermon on the Mount. I'll never be able to look at this picture again and not think of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5-7). Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God... as clearly as one sees the reflection of the heavens in this awesome lake.
We took off for an energetic hike around the rim... but after I flailed and nearly broke a hip trying to make it up this small hill, we collectively decided that without the proper gear, including our crampons, we should stick to the non-iced paths.
But the kids needed to get out some energy...
And since we never see snow in Texas...
We let them at it.
You can take the girl out of San Diego, but you can't take San Diego out of the girl?
At this point, they've all told us that they intend to attend university in the Pacific Northwest.
We continued hiking around the (paved) portion of the rim...
