The Events of Thursday, July 1, 2010

This morning we all woke up shivering to a freezing 32 degrees! No wonder there is still snow in July here by Crater Lake! Well, we all bookied out of our mosquito infested campsite to have breakfast overlooking Crater Lake. Then we went to the visitor center and bookstore of Crater Lake National Park. In the bookstore, we found many interesting things. My personal favorite was a bookmark that said:

 

Advice from a Lake

 

Be Clear

Make Positive Ripples

Look Beneath the Surface

Stay Calm

Shore up friendships

Take time to reflect

Be full of life!

 

On the way out we picked up the ‘Junior Ranger’ packets, for ages 12 and under, for all four of us, even though only Abby is young enough! We went down to the visitor’s center and learned how Crater Lake was formed and about all the things that live in Crater Lake. Then we hopped back into our RV and headed down the road again. We stopped for lunch along a beautiful viewpoint and then drove some more. Finally, we got to Cleetwood Trail, a trail that leads down to Crater Lake. We slathered on sunscreen and insect repellent and started walking down the dusty, long, steep trail. On the way, we got glimpses of the gorgeous blue of Crater Lake. After about 30 minutes of walking, we reached the edge of the lake. The blue was indescribably beautiful and we were all very in awe of it. We made our way down to a private little rocky cove where Abby and I immediately threw off our shoes to wade in. We dipped our toes into the freezing water, then we waded and were having so much fun that we convinced Mom to dangle her feet as well! After a while, Abby’s feet turned blue and we sat on rocks to dry our feet and gaze at the pretty lake.  We dipped in a water bottle into the lake water and Daddy made it clean with his handy dandy Steri-Pen  and we all sipped a little of Crater Lake! Finally we headed up on a long journey upwards. Daddy ran ahead, but the rest of us took our time, stopping at every bench, there were about 12 of them and finally made it to the top! We were all a mess of dust and mosquito bites. But, Daddy had gone to the car to get snacks and we ate on our way back to the RV. We cleaned up and then headed to our next campsite, Hi-way Haven RV park. The showers there were amazing and we all went to bed feeling clean and well accomplished.