California Raw, Day 12

Today was something of an off day. I think there must have been some allergen in room due to years of no air circulation. Mom was sneezing relentlessly and both of us had restless sleep. We both were up at dawn for the sunrise, but peeked out the window at a solid wall of gray and promptly went back to bed. Getting up several hours later was an act of congress, and we've been exhausted the whole day.

Breakfast was good. The park lodges always seem to have great food. We grabbed a much needed sweater and gloves in the gift shop, and then proceeded to try to photograph the lake.

Most of the lake is still closed. Apparently it won't open up until the end of June at the earliest. So there wasn't any way to hike down to the bottom, and the drive around the rim was closed. Also, this late in the year the snow was dirty instead of fresh, so there wasn't much to be had in the way of pictures. I took shots of a panoramic from two different perspectives; but I won't be able to stitch those together until I get home.

But all that being said, I really enjoyed being up there. I think it was a nice treat, and I would have been happy to be up there an extra day with a book, some hot chocolate, sitting by the fire in the lobby, and looking out at the cold weather. Though with the musty room and the potential for sleepless nights, perhaps more than a couple nights would have been a problem. "Redrum!"

We took US 97 N out of Crater Lake, and it was a rainy, bleary, uninteresting drive the whole way. Compounded by a lack of sleepy, Mom hasn't had a very good day today. The landscape got interesting once we hit US 26 West, but the heavy fog completely obscured the views -- oftentimes we couldn't even see silhouettes of the mountains around us.

I've been telling Mom that this is part of the experience, part of the Pacific Northwest. But I think the rain and fog have caught up with her. She planned the trip meticulously, but nobody could have anticipated the weather this week. Everyone has been calling it unseasonal.

Tonight was a funny night too. Though I was able to pick up a new book at Borders, and something of a hat at Dick's (they had just sent back all their winter inventory), we kind of had a blah dinner and when I tried to get Mom a latte at Starbucks to cheer her up they were closed. What time was it? --Just after 8pm. We went to another, which turned out to be in a grocery, and they were closed. Anyway, by about the 5th one, I finally got her a latte. They have a lot of them in a small area around here; but not many stay open apparently!

After I post this we have to reconsider our agenda for the next few days. Tomorrow is definitely going to be rain, the next day (which was going to be a travel day) is going to be clear, and the third day is a 30% chance of rain. Mt. Rainier is nearly 100% chance for snow over the next couple days. But we'll figure something out.

This is the nature of road trips! I think they're supposed to be a little "come as you may". And I think Mom will feel better tomorrow after she's had a good night's sleep. We have nice room tonight.

One lonely picture of the lake.