Week 3 – Saturday
Saturday night.
Big day today. We left Bend at 9 o’clock this morning, and drove south following the guidance of the GPS. It tried to tell us to take the north entrance to Crater Lake National Park, but I already knew that that entrance was shut for the season. Funny thing was, as soon as we turned into the north entrance, the GPS must have picked up local data informing it of such, because it told us to turn around and take another route! Gotta love this technology.
So, the next thing I know, 2 miles down the highway, it tells me to turn off and take a gravel road. I reluctantly agreed to follow it. It took us along 22 miles of dirt, which provided some fun 4 wheel drive action with ice and snow on the road!
We ended up getting to the park about 30 minutes sooner than we would have done had we followed the highway.
Crater Lake was just gorgeous. See the panorama below. Unfortunately, the sky was overcast and grey which made for a pretty dull looking photo so please forgive me for touching up the colours a bit to give the sky some punch.
We then headed west to Grant’s Pass and on to Crescent City. Along the way, Max spilled his hot chocolate all over the laptop. Nice. Thankfully, it still seems to be functioning ok, although a couple of keys feel a bit sticky.
So, we got into Crescent City at about 5:30 only to find that the whole southern side of the town has no water. Oh joy. So, our pre-booked hotel let us out of our reservation without penalty. So instead, we’re holed up at some dodgy $64 a night joint. It’s a bed… I’ll re-assess it’s value in the morning.
Turns out the internet access here is a bit hit and miss, so I may have to post this tomorrow morning anyway.
Cheers,
Bruce.
Hi Bruce,
Glad to hear you’re enjoying Oregon, and now California. There’s a little town you might like to visit if you’re headed back up toward Southern Oregon named, Ashland.
It’s old-fashioned and new age with a great British-style pub, a good Italian and a nice Thai restaurant. Visually, the town center is a quaint and relaxing throwback to the turn of the century, the one a hundred years ago. I did a little DJ work there at Jefferson Public Radio in my spare time while writing for an Internet company there a few years back.
If you’re heading south, the curvy coast road is dazzlingly scenic with redwood stopovers on the way. If you’re going north along the coast, I can recommend the massive sand dunes in Southern Oregon. If you’re going inland to California, Mount Shasta is pretty impressive, especially if it’s snowed. Further south inland though is pretty tedious, but fast highway, farm country.
Be careful on the smaller mountain roads, as snow can strand you in some pretty remote and cold areas. But if you’ve done outback driving in Oz you probably know to take care.
Finally, if you’re going to San Francisco (“be sure to wear some flowers in your hair…” oops flashback song), arrive on an empty stomach, as it sports the greatest collection of ethnic restaurants I’ve encountered anywhere. (If you want recommendations, email me. I lived there ten years.)
Of course, if you don’t get this message till later, you can make a note for the next visit.
Bon voyage and happy trails,
Joseph