Phil and Jamie's West Coast Road Trip, Day Three

 

Day 3 ( 462 miles)

This is the second time I wrote this entry.  The first time Windows Live Writer cunningly led me to believe that I had saved my post, but when I went to upload it I discovered that everything I had written was gone.  Lovely.

 

Wednesday, September 12 saw us set out from Eugene after breakfast.  We decided early that there was no point in trying to make it to Seattle in one day.  Instead we'd enjoy a leisurely jaunt through Oregon and end the day wherever we found ourselves at 7PM or so.  We headed north on 101 through Redwood National and State Park and then through the Smith River NRA.  The morning weather wasn't so great, but things got better as the day progressed. 

 

 

 

We saw lots of trees (this picture is through the lens; no Photoshopping):

Some weird stuff, too:

 

The sun finally came out around noon:

 

And we made it to the border at 12:44PM.

 

 

 

 

 

Kathy had suggested that we make a side trip to Crater Lake.  Phil was skeptical after our last diversion had resulted in less than satisfactory results, but if there's any time to do something foolish, then do it again, it's on a Road Trip. 

Armed with a trip plan from the trusty NaviHo, we set off down I5.  I did feel a shade queasy as we followed I5 south to 234, but I had faith that this time things would be different.  And they were.

 

When we got to the entrance to Crater Lake, we had what turned out to be our Second Close Encounter of the Female Kind.  This time, we found ourselves chatting it up with two cute park rangers, one of whom (the one leaning out the window) was wondering if we happened to be headed south to Yosemite.  For a minute I wondered if Phil might kick me out of the car and say, "As a matter of fact, I am!"  Lucky for me (but too bad for him), he did not.

We soon found ourselves gazing out upon Crater Lake, and what a sight it was!

The photos can't possibly do justice to the magnificence of the view.  It wasn't just the sights but also the sounds, the purity of the air, the clearness of the sky.  Everything was just... sharp.

 

Two goons spoiling an otherwise marvelous view.

 

 

 

 

 

Another angle on the lake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we were there, I practiced some HDR photography.  I haven't gotten the results yet (it takes a lot of tweaking in PhotoMatix), but once I have some pictures I'll post them in my gallery.  We probably only spent about an hour at Crater Lake, but it deserves a lot more.  I hope to come back some day when I have more time to relax and enjoy all this work of Nature has to offer.  I suspect the night sky in this place is just as amazing as the daytime vistas.

Back on the road, we were getting a bit worn.  I was hoping we might be able to call it a night in Corvallis, the setting for a novel by S.M. Sterling that I read recently.  But the logistics didn't work out.  We would meet the day's end in Salem, OR.

We saw a whole bunch of red farm houses on the way to Salem.

 

Sunset came at 7:31PM.