California Week 4: Around Eureka and Crater Lake

As you may have noticed, we’ve taken to the “laid back California attitude” lately and don’t have quite as many weekday adventures to report compared to our days in Colorado.  There are a few theories that I can propose towards to source of our weekday agoraphobia.

1:  Bilbo has been cooking fancy-schmancy dinners and we enjoy staying in to enjoy them.
2:  Ferndale is a really cute town, so we enjoy taking it in.
3:  We may be getting a little tired of car time.

However, this week we did make an excursion to nearby Eureka (where I happen to work) for some site seeing in “Historic Old Town”.  Like Ferndale, Eureka is a coastal city with an Old West/Victorian feel.  We particularly liked the theater with it’s golden age appeal.

 

 

Eureka is also home to Lost Coast Brewery, a site Bilbo couldn’t pass up! 

While Bilbo sipped his beer, I had a tea sampler and we admired the quirky decor around us.  We were especially impressed by the giant spider that was rigged to drop down over dinners every time the front door opened.

 

Our next California adventure will have to wait for the next blog…but that’s just because we spent weekend #4 in snowy Oregon.  The scene was picturesque as we made our way up to Crater Lake National Park—a truly lovely winter’s morning.

 

We had done our research before setting out and knew that the park had reported 5 feet of snow, but the ground was still pretty visible for the majority of the drive and we began to doubt the report.  Friends, never doubt the NPS.  As the last hour of our drive was coming to an end, we watched to snow wall growing around us until…

 

BAM!  5 feet of snow!  Yep, that’s the visitor’s center buried behind there. 

   

I’m sure you are wondering what we planned to do at a National Park in 5 feet of snow, but I’m going to make you wait just a little longer for that.  First, I’ll educate you on Crater Lake itself.  Below you can see a nice multi-dimensional model of Crater Lake, which is unique because it is completely enclose by mountainous features.  The lake was formed when a volcano erupted so violently that it blew out its side, forming a “crater”.  This crater then filled with water and became what we see today.  That little dot on the left side of the lake is called Wizard Island, and it is really quite large!  

   

Here we are at that cold, frozen, wonder of a lake!  If you look at the model, we would be standing in the bottom/forefront section a little to the left of center.  And that brings us back to the question of our snowy day plans...

 

Snowshoeing, of course!

We spent the day walking to just in front of Wizard Island, where we stopped for lunch and took in the magic.

 

 

  

Snowshoeing was a lot harder than we had expected.  Our hips were sore and tired from the march-like gait that is required, but it was worth this view!

After a successful first snowshoe experience, we went to Bend, OR for the night and visited Dechutes Brewery.  The hostess told us that the wait for a table was 2 hours but we were sitting down in less than an hour.  Thanks you, impatient patrons who left so that we could have your seats!  I think that we both agreed the wait would have been worth it because Bilbo loved the Abyss Porter and I loved the homemade mustard!  I used half a bottle.

  

After dinner, we took a short stroll through Bend; which we found to be a very charming place.  There was even a snowboarder who reminded us of the dear Mr. Cooper.

The next morning we awoke to find that Bend is even more amazing by day!  Look at those snow-peaked mountains! 

The last stop before bidding OR goodbye was Lava Lands National Monument.  The parking lot was closed and covered in a foot of snow and ice, so we parked on the road and walked across the lot.

The main trail was closed for the season, but we were still able to get a close up look at a volcano and walk by piles of volcanic rock. 

  

  

Here’s one last look at Oregon’s beauty as we say “goodbye!”  Next time we’ll be back in California with a special guest star!  Keep your eye out for our high climbing adventure.