Crater Lake

"It's not a lake! It's a volcano with water in it." ~Aeryn

On our way home from the Redwoods, we stopped for a night in Crater Lake National Park. 'Twas fantastic.

Kit got to come along on this adventure. I'm going out on a limb and saying she liked sleeping in the tent but wasn't so keen on the hiking when she was forgotten about in the car.

The lake is such a stunning color of blue. After I said that, Aeryn asked why the sky is blue. So I brought up rainbows and how the colors spread out and said that blue spreads more than others which is why we see the sky as blue. To which she just said "But WHY?" Oh boy. At least I was smart enough (and provoked) to stop before I went into the electromagnetic spectrum and Rayleigh scattering. That poor kid. Her mom is such a nerd.

From certain viewpoint you can easily see that this little island is a cinder cone. From others, well it just look like a pretty mound in the water.

The kidlet and me. I can't believe how big this child is getting. Didn't I just have her? Seriously.

Some nice fellow tourists took this picture. I suppose the timer/tripod thing makes other people nervous.

SMACK! Yep, still love him. (More even!)

This is Plaikni Falls. Evidently these falls were just discovered in the last few years and the trail just opened in July. In fact if you look at the blue "don't you dare" tape you can see that they are still working on it. This was a great walk and we saw a deer along the trail in the middle of the afternoon. He disappeared into the woods before we got a picture, and just moments later other hikers came up the path and saw nothing. Jim commented on how big a difference 30 seconds can make in what one experiences in nature. True that!!

Looking.............    something.

And with that, our little two night camping adventure came to a close. We packed up, drove home, and remembered what mattresses and showers feel like.