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September 12, 2008

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

This is a continuation of our trip that we took last week. After we left Ashland Friday morning, we stopped at the Harry and David store in Medford so I could pick up some fruit and gifts for the friends we were going to visit on the rest of our trip. I love shopping at that place, and we stop every time we head home from a trip to Ashland. The car wouldn't know how to get home unless it took a detour through the Harry and David parking lot!

Our next stop was in Eagle Point where we visited with some steamboating friends. We hadn't seen them since last year when we were passing through on our way to Crater Lake. Since they live in Southern Oregon, they don't make it to any of the steam meets that are held up in the Seattle area because it is so far for them to haul their steamboat. As usual, we had a nice visit and Don took us out to the pasture to feed the sheep while we were there.

After leaving Eagle Point we made our way along the Rogue River and up to Crater Lake where we spent two beautiful days at the Lodge. Dave had made reservations over a year ago when we first drove through on our way home from Ashland. It was so breathtaking that we decided that a little more time was needed to really enjoy this mysterious place. The first thing we did after we checked in our room was to sign up for the boat tour around the lake the next morning. We woke up early the next morning and saw this beautiful sunrise over the lake. Even this is washed out, because the colors were vibrant!

Speaking of cell phones, we kept getting messages on ours, but could never get enough signal to answer them. When we finished the boat tour, we kept going around the rim drive to get back to the lodge. There, clear across the lake from the village and at the highest point, we found one bar of signal. We stopped immediately and tried to answer our messages. Dave had to hold the phone up in the air at a particular angle and even then the signal was intermittent at times, but we got through! Lara and Greg had come down to our place at the coast for the weekend and were concerned because they didn't have any hot water. We had failed to mention to them that we usually try to save electricity by shutting the hot water heater off when we are gone for more than three days. Anyway, there she was with three naked little girls with no hot water for a bath. She ended up heating water on the stove, just like camping! Anyway, we finally were able to reach her and told her where the water heater breaker switch was. Now she will know for the future.

Because of it's remote location, about the only place to eat while staying in the Lodge is the dining room at the lodge itself. We had breakfast twice and dinner once. By the time the second breakfast rolled around, I couldn't face the prospect of eggs again, so I ordered the granola breakfast. We had a big laugh when the meal arrived...the granola looked EXACTLY like the food we were feeding the sheep back in Eagle Point!

Our next stop after leaving Crater Lake on Sunday morning was a two-hour drive north to Bend, where we had brunch with George and Margie, friends who had been down to visit us at the coast earlier this summer. After that, we headed west again to Dexter (near Eugene) to spend the night with some more friends of ours. The drive was narrow and crowded but very beautiful through the McKenzie Pass. We reached Ed and Diane's place around 4:30 and Diane had fixed a wonderful meal for us. It tasted so good to have a home cooked meal after a week of eating out. We always enjoy our visit with them, as we have known them since we were first married and we all lived in Oakland, California. Ed had just gotten back from a week-long hiking trip in the North Cascades. He loves the outdoors and spends a lot of time during the summer camping and hiking. Diane finally retired last spring and is enjoying her leisure time. I enjoyed watching the gray squirrels that Ed feeds. It's hard to tell in the picture, but those things are as big as rabbits and make my little chestnut squirrels look like midgets!

I have to run into West Linn today as I have a much needed hair appointment and I need to do some shopping at Costco because the cupboards still have some empty space that needs filling!