crater lake

Let me preface this post by a side note...

The entire time I've been in Oregon (9 full weeks now), I've known I wanted to go to Crater Lake. I put it on my must-do list the day I got here. To help build suspense, Ari has not let me see one single picture of Crater Lake. Not when Cristiana went, and not when Ethan and Andrew went. I was banned from all Crater Lake photo-viewing. Of course, I had seen maps of the area, and I had a general idea of what it looked like. BUT IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT ohhhh me o my, how beautiful it was indeed!

Also, before you look at the photos, consider if you would like to remain a Crater Lake virgin yourself. Of course, the photos don't even begin to do it justice, but keep in mind: once you look, you can't go back....

PREPARE YOURSELF

ARE YOU SURE??

Wizard Island--check out that reflection! owwww owww have you ever seen anything so magical???

Which way is up?! Clouds are reflected perfectly in the water.

Wizard Island again

Me and the Wizard

There's still a lot of snow at Crater Lake. Unfortunately, all of the hiking trails were still covered.

So we woke up at 4 AM (yes, AM) this morning to watch the sun rise over Crater Lake. We made pancakes at the overlook, as we were swarmed by some of the nastiest mosquitoes I have come across. WOW WHAT A BEAUTY OF A SUNRISE!!!

The Wizard in all of its glory

The sun, just peeking over the rim of the lake.

`

Ari, master of the wisperlite pancake

We topped our flapjacks with Molly's quad-berry jam...yummma nummmaa

We began the drive to the Umpqua Hot Springs (north of Crater Lake). We stopped at a few waterfalls along the way that were really majestic. The mosquitoes were terrible! I don't even remember it being this bad when I was in Costa Rica! But, I find that the less you swat at them, the less they buzz at you. Mind over matter, right? Right...

The mosquitoes kept getting in the car whenever the door opened. So, once the car started moving at a decent speed, we would roll down all of the windows and do a "mosquito flush" and swat them all out of the car.

And so begins my last week in the woods! I had to say goodbye to Ari today when we parted ways in Eugene. She is visiting family in California this week, so she'll miss the awesome meals I have planned (sockeye salmon, salads galore, pizza...). I hope that I meet at least some of my HJA pals again someday!

Believe it or not, I still have work to do! I have to make a couple of graphs, wrap up my report, and have a conference call with a bunch of important people to talk about what I have found, and about what I think should be done in the future. Cool, but a tiny bit intimidating....

But great things lie ahead! I am driving back to Colorado soon with my mama. And I am in the midst of planning a potluck for the night I am there! I'm very excited to be with old friends that I haven't seen in a while, and won't see for a long time.