It wouldn't be a National Park if it was ugly. (Aug 4)

I was startled awake by the sound of a fire alarm. That's right, the fire alarm went off in our hotel. It reminded me of college when we used to getting woken up because someone burned popcorn in their microwave except this alarm wasn't as loud. My first thought was it's a drill, but then I thought... They don't have fire drills in hotels. I hopped out of bed and was so flustered I didn't know what to do! I made sure Nate was awake before trying to grab my purse. We get down the stairs and almost outside when everyone starts walking in. Confused because the alarm was still going off, but someone clarified and said that a little boy had pulled the alarm in the lobby. I hope that boy got a spanking. Since we were up, we took advantage of the continental breakfast. They had everything! Eggs, sausage, cereal, fruit, bagels, muffins, and my favorite, waffles. Complete with waffle bar. Chocolate chips, blueberries, cinnamon, powdered sugar, you name it they had it. After breakfast we went back up to the room to nap for a little bit longer before heading out for Crater Lake.

It's a fun game for me, not knowing what any of these places will look like. I never know what to expect and am never disappointed by all of the different combinations that can be made with mountains, trees, and water. This one was my favorite. However, once we got into the park driving was frustrating. There was no shoulder at all, just two lanes and then a cliff. I almost felt like I was driving a course on Mario Kart... except it was real life and there would be no turtle in a magical cloud with a fishing pole to pull me out if I drove off the cliff. Nevertheless, we made it to the visitors center, got our cancellation for the passport and pressed a penny but decided to wait on the patch because it was really boring and we're hoping to find a better one online. One of the workers told us that the gift shop with the good patches was closed which was disappointing. We took a walk to an exhibit nearby to learn more about Crater Lake. First thing we learned is that Crater Lake did not get it's name from a crater, but it was actually a volcano that blew it's top and then collapsed to form the caldera. The water came from rain and snow and was a beautiful blue. We drove around the top of the lake stopping at various points to take pictures.

Around sunset we ended up back by the visitors center and listened to a guy play the guitar and sing. He introduced himself as Stan Pollmann and said that he was one of Compassion International's independent artists. He was fun to talk to and get to know even though the mosquitos were out and as pesky as ever.

We wanted to get a little closer to Redwood National Park so we drove to Mt. Ashland in Klamoth National Forest to camp for the night. It was hard to find and we didn't have any idea what we were looking for. But once we got there we found that the wind was horrendous! If we didn't have a hold on the tent it would have blown off the mountain.