For Sam's birthday weekend, we made the 6 hour drive through Northern California to Jacksonville, Oregon, a tiny little town outside of Medford. We stayed at a historic B&B built in the late 1800's. It was a charming farmhouse that overlooked vinyards and farm land with mountains in the background. Such a change from the busyness of San Francisco!
The drive through Northern California was beautiful. This state continues to amaze me with its beauty! We drove through Shasta Forest and past Shasta Lake. Then, we drove by Mount Shasta which is part of the cascade mountain range. Driving through the mountains and catching glimpses of the snow capped top (and trying to get a good picture out of my window...) made the last couple hours of the drive very enjoyable.
Finally, we made it into Oregon! A pretty little sign, don't you think?
By the time we arrived, we were both ready to just chill. We ended up having an early Cinco de Mayo celebration at a local Mexican restaurant and then...walked around the local mall. Pretty lame, right? But we both realized we haven't been to a mall in ages since San Francisco and Berkeley/Emeryville have more of what I would consider to be a "shopping district." Anyway, Sam scored some more birthday presents while I tried to walk off my gigantic margarita from dinner!
After a delicious gourmet breakfast at the B&B Saturday morning, we started our adventure to Crater Lake. After seeing pictures from a recent trip Sam's aunt and uncle took, Crater Lake has been high up on my list of places to visit. We had to drive through this beautiful forest to reach the park entrance. It was so peaceful; we hardly passed any other cars. As we drove though, we began to notice more and more snow...
Needless to say, we were quite unprepared for the amount of snow awaiting us around the lake. It turns out that the main road around the lake was not even fully opened yet, and wouldn't be cleared of snow until June or July.
The visitor center was completely snowed in, but they designed a snow tunnel at the side so we could still get inside.
Crater lake is actually a caldera lake that formed over 7,000 years ago. After the eruption of Mount Mazama, the mountain collapsed in on itself creating a crater like formation. Then, over time, the crater filled with snow and rain water to form a lake. It is the deepest lake in the US, and doesn't have any rivers flowing into or out of it.
The lake water is also so calm and clear that the reflections of the clouds and Wizard Island are reflected like a mirror. So breathtaking.
Even though most of the road surrounding the lake was still closed, there was one portion cleared off that was open to pedestrian traffic only. Sam and I decided to take a short walk and play a little in the snow. Again...totally unprepared for the amount of snow!
I really don't think I have ever seen so much snow in my life! It was so beautiful too, hanging off the branches of the trees and reflecting all shimmers and glitters in the sunlight.
The visit to the lake absolutely lived up to my expectations, and I would love to go again in the summer or early fall where we could travel a little further around the lake. I was so nervous as we drove up that we wouldn't be able to catch a glimpse of the lake. I'm so glad I was wrong!
That night we were able to catch a picture of the amazing full moon on the way back to our B&B. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but the moon looked huge and bright with the mountains in the background.
What a wonderful weekend! Even though I had a paper to write and studying to do for my upcoming final, I wouldn't have changed a thing. We were able to relax and enjoy each other's company AND visit a whole new state :-)
