"Wow! It's just like HD!"

Had a Panasonic executive been standing near my darling son, when he uttered that shocked bit of praise, I have little doubt Daniel would be heading to Hollywood to star in a new advertising campaign.
We did lots of great things today, but as you can tell from the photos and from Daniel's comment, it was ALL about the lake. Crater Lake that is, in Crater Lake National Park. To get there from Ashland, we drove up to Medford, taking a brief detour to historic Jacksonville (which we were almost going to skip on this trip until learning from our waitress the evening before that Johnny Depp owns a home here.)

Jacksonville, the whole town dating back to 1851, is probably used as a movie set for lots of old westerns but our quick drive through town (with no Jack Sparrow in sight :( served us just fine.

Crater Lake is nestled in National Forest heaven; Rogue River Nat'l Forest is south of it, Umpqua is north of it. As we were driving from Ashland to Eugene (to check out University of Oregon - which had students instead of deer - therefore making it much less desirable to Maddie) before ultimately arriving in Portland, we got to drive through a bit of both of them. Let me say it again - this National Forest business is just brilliant! There is nothing like driving for miles and miles and miles and seeing nothing but trees and creeks and birds and mountains and snow (yup, even here, at the highest elevations, in little pockets here and there). That Teddy Roosevelt has a legacy of which we can all be proud and grateful.

The lake itself was formed nearly 8,000 years ago when Mt. Mazama, a 5000 foot mountain/volcano, erupted, then collapsed, creating the conditions for what would become the deepest (at 1,943 feet) and clearest lake in the United States (7th deepest in the world). Much has been written about the color of the lake, which is magnificent. What most impacted me, however, was how remote it is. In the little visitor center/museum that sits at the start of the 33 mile rim drive (which is only accessible from June - September), there are quotes from various people who came upon the lake over time. One of these expressed how essential it was that the lake remain pristine, untouched by whatever would come in the future. But for the Crater Lake Lodge, a structure completed in 1915, which actually adds to the overall effect, nothing man-made is anywhere on the rim of this lake. I admire the restraint exercised by all of those politicians over the years who insured the lake would remain just as it looked 7,000+ years ago.

This morning, we are off to Powell's City of Books and Washington Park. Our gorgeous hotel (another piece of history dating back to the early 1920's) is situated in a great spot in downtown Portland, the sight of which lit up Daniel's eyes as much as Crater Lake did. "I love a big city!" he exclaimed as the skyline came into view last night. Our vacation will conclude with a couple of days devoted to exploring this "big city" (quite big compared to Ketchikan, Alaska and Newport, Oregon).