2005 Oregon July trip with Barb (Crater Lake)

I was always threatening to take my best friend from childhood on a trip with me.  We finally did that trip.  Turned out to be a lot more stressful for her then we ever anticipated!  Anyway---

We started the trip with a couple night on the beautiful Oregon coast.  By now my husband and I were Worldmark owners, so I had gotten a couple nights at the Worldmark Depoe Bay in a 3 bedroom unit.  My DAd joined us and was pretty much our driver for most of the week we were in Oregon.  My friend started showing signs that something was wrong, but we chalked it up to the chilly Oregon coast breezes, even though it was July.

Worldmark Depoe Bay

view from livingroom window

more of our condo at Depoe Bay

the gounds of the resort

 Of course we headed down the coast to show Barb the scenic coastline.  She had never been to the west coast.  We stopped in the little town of Depoe Bay and watched for some of the resident whales there.

 Then we continued on .

 Dad even found a tree stump on one of the coastal pathways that doubled as a chair.

The Oregon coast is beautiful all times of the year, but I really love it in the summer when all the wild flowers are blooming and the sun is shining.

 I believe this was Agate Beach, just south of Depoe Bay.

 One of our favorite places to wander around is at Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  At 93' tall, it's the tallest lighthouse in Oregon.

The rocks off shore are nature preserves for many different water birds.  It's also home to a lot of seals.

 There's a stairway down to the pebble beach.

Another one of the "rocks" where water birds hang out.

 A little farther down the road near Newport is Yaquina Bay lighthouse.  Yes, they were very original in the naming of these 2 lighthouses that are only about 10-15 miles apart from each other!  It is believed to be the oldest structure in Newport and the only historic wooden Oregon lighthouse still standing.

 We happened to be there when it was open, so we took a tour of the inside.  Found this picture particularly interesting as it was made from human hair.

 It is also the only existing Oregon lighthouse with the living quarters attached.

Back at our resort at Depoe Bay, we spent a lot of time out on the lanai staring at the ocean.

We also went into Lincoln City and walked along the extensive beaches there.

 And enjoyed a couple beautiful sunsets.

 When we left the coast, we headed up to the mountains near Bend. 

We stayed in another Worldmark resort---this time at Eagle Crest.

Some of the views of the high dessert by Bend.

After a day at Eagle Crest, we headed south to our next destination---Crater Lake.  It was a scenic trip through the high country.

Somewhere along the way, we stopped for the night and my friend slept about 18 hours.  We chalked up her breathing problems to the altitude this time.

Next day she seemed better so we continued on to Crater Lake.   There are no rivers flowing into or out of the lake.  Evaporation is compensated for by rain and snowfall at a rate that replaces the total amount of water every 250 years. At 1,943', the lake is the deepest in the United States, and on of the 10 deepest in the world.

 There is a path leading down to the lake and boat ride in the lake.  The ride takes about 2-3 hours to go all the way around the lake. I've done the boat ride years ago with my husband and kids, but with Barb having "altitude" problems, we didn't chance the hike down and back up.

 Crater Lake is a lake in a nearly 2,148' caldera.  It is 5 by 6 miles across, with a caldera rim ranging in elevation from 7,000 to 8,000 feet.

Barb posing with Crater Lake in the back ground.

In the summer, the weather is mild and dry.  Love all the wild flowers growing here, too.

 In the winter it is cold and enormous snowfalls average 488 inches per year.  The rim drive is usually only open from about mid July to sometime in Sept. or Oct.  It was open when we were there and we enjoyed the long ride around the lake.

 More wild flowers!

 More views into the crater.  Layers of pumice and ash, like the orange Pumice Castle, are deposits from older, smaller explosive eruptions.

More views along our Crater Lake drive.

 Wizard Island is a volcanic cinder cone island at the west end of Crater Lake.  The boat ride also goes to this island and there is a hike up to the top of this island.   Ken, the kids, and I did the hike many years ago, but not this time.  On top of Wizard Island is another crater. 

 One area this is usually open most of the year is by the Lodge.  They plow this area so Crater Lake can be enjoyed other times of the year, too.

Just a few more beautiful views of Crater Lake from the Rim drive.

 Close up of the odd little "flowers" in the view above.

 While we were in the high country, we took another scenic drive---Cascades Lakes Scenic Byway

  It runs for 66 miles in the Cascade mountain range and truely is scenic!

Some more wild flowers.

 Back in the Willamette Valley and our base of DAllas, Oregon (where Dad lived), Barb and I took an excursion up to Silver Falls State Park.  It is the largest state park in Oregon with an area of more than 9,000 acres, and it includes more than 24 miles of walking trails and several falls.

 We did the "easy" walk to South Falls.  Which turned out to not be so easy for Barb.  This time we chalked up her breathing problems to being out of shape.

 

 Then we drove through Silverton to admire the flower farms.

That's when we realized Barb had a real breathing problem since it continued to get worse.  I took her straight to the emergency room in Salem.  The Dr. took one look at her and asked if she was a visitor.   Then he explained that she was having asthma problems (something she never had back home in the midwest).  The Dr. said a lot of visitors end up in the emergency room that time of year with all the grass harvesting going on!  Just so happens there's a huge hay field across the street from my Dad's house.  She was put on an inhaler and some pills and it immediately helped and she got to enjoy her last night in Oregon.

I enjoyed our whirlwind trip through Oregon.  But poor Barb claims she never wants to go to Oregon again!