That’s right peoples. We go.
After all the weeks in Ellensburg we headed back to the Skagit Valley for a little time with the Father/Stepmother and #2 Son/Daughter in law (who is doing an excellent job of growing our new granddaughter) and Grandpuppy. We were sad not to see some friends but that was totally understandable considering everything!
After considering many options, having our top choices be eliminated (Vermont and Maine – but we understood their isolation requirements) and thinking about where we have wanted to go, we were able to come to the conclusion that we wanted to drive down the west coast. There are several places that we have discussed over the years, places we really wanted to see and roads we wanted to drive. Number one: Crater Lake. Number two: Highway 101. Okay, so now we know how we want to get there, and where to stop at, but where were we going to? That became quite the…spirited…conversation. And then it boiled down to we would go to Northern California. Why? Because other than San Francisco neither of us had spent any time there. And then came the even more important question: where could we afford to stay? Of course we would have loved to stay in the wine country! Or in some cute coastal town. But, we needed somewhere that we could walk to places like the grocery store and wasn’t going to cost a fortune for a one month stay. Eureka. No, I mean the town of Eureka. I’ll delve more into Eureka in another post – we have mixed feelings about the place. Let’s talk more about the drive down…
It was finally a warm, sunny day when we left Skagit County. After a cool, rainy June the weather was beautiful. So we left. Sigh. When we headed out for our journey we weren’t certain when we would be back in the valley, therefore we had to bring all of our gear. Just like traveling overseas, except not. We loaded up our rented SUV and off we went – the issue is that we left on a Friday afternoon. We even managed to get about 90 miles in before we came to a slow crawl. What should have been about 45 minutes of driving took almost two hours. Ugh. Our end point for that first day was Albany, OR and we rolled into the hotel at 9PM. We had arranged to have breakfast the next morning with my Sister, Nephew and his Girlfriend. The Husband and I picked up everyone’s food orders, met them at the appointed park, and it began raining. Fortunately the Sister is even smarter than she knew she was as she chose a picnic table under the bridge! Built in cover! It wasn’t cold, so we sat there for a long time chatting and catching up. We could have stayed much longer but it was time to hit the road.
There is one (okay, there are many) place the Husband and I have wanted to go for practically forever. Sorry to our Children that we didn’t take you – we know you want to go too! Crater Lake. You see photos of the lake and you think it can’t really be that blue color. Must be enhanced. Or the lighting was just so. Nope. It really is that crazy shade of blue! To get to Crater Lake you take I-5 to southern Oregon and then you go sort of southeast on smaller highways for about 1,000 miles – or so it seemed. It was probably 3.5 hours after leaving I-5 (and this is with me driving. I find speed limits to be merely a suggestion) before we got to Crater Lake National Park. Yes, we did verify that the park was open before we went – it had reopened the previous week. The Rim Road (also called the Volcanic Legacy Highway) to the lake is a very easy drive. There are several places to stop between the entrance and Rim Village. Don’t miss stopping at the first lookout point!
Crater Lake was formed when Mount Mazama erupted and then collapsed into itself. Apparently there is still volcanic activity underneath the water so it is considered an active volcano! It is also the deepest lake in the US (just shy of 2,000 feet). There are no rivers running into or out of it which keeps the water crystal clean and clear. You can hike down and swim in it…I’ll pass. Only a polar bear would find the water temperature acceptable!
Rim Village is at about 7,100 foot elevation and the views are incredible. On the trip back down we took the time to look around and see the amazing sights around us.
After spending the night in Roseburg, Oregon we pointed ourselves in a mostly west direction. Next stop: the coast! Our Google Maps (Dana) has a sense of humor. Dana also delights in taking us places very few humans go to. Dana did get us to the coast (at Bandon, Oregon) and she chose a very scenic route. We found it very reminiscent of Ireland. Like, it might be a two way road…but somebody was going to have to squish to make it work. Fortunately we didn’t see any other cars.
And then finally we were at the coast!!
Once you’re south of Crescent City in California you enter the Redwoods National Park. The highway goes right through it – towering coastal Redwoods on either side of you! But those will be a different post. I think we are going back up there in two weeks. In the meantime we have gotten to know Eureka. Enough said for now!