Day 280: Crater Lake, Mountain Driving Terror, and more Balloon Ride Bliss

First, before I rant and rave about mountain driving, let me point out that after leaving my brother's in Graham, WA, on we stayed overnight in Crater Lake, Oregon, on Monday, Sept 22. Crater Lake National Park is described as "the most under-rated National Park in the U.S" by 1000 Places to See Before you Die. I'm not planning on dying soon, but driving in mountains makes me feel like I might, or might want to.

Anyway, we stayed in a cabin, no TV, no computer, no phone, no cell service. My son and husband, who are clearly not Ludites, practically lost it! Until Scott realized he could still plug-in his computer and play the movie (excellent) Darjeeling Express on it. Personally, I missed having a hair dryer. So this first photo is of my family "roughing it."

Crater Lake is truly beautiful. It's 1943 feet deep, and rests inside a caldera formed approximately 7700 years ago when a 12000' tall volcano collapsed, following a major eruption! Water temperature is 38 degrees year round, and the lake is 4.5 miles by 6 miles across. Beautiful, but you have to drive up mountains to get to it, and walk along look-out points.






Balloon Installment # 4

Yesterday, I posted photos of our launch, and today I'll show you a few photos of us up in the air. This first one is of Frank, our pilot. Both Doug and I independently and unbeknownst to each other, prayed for his health.


These are not technically great photos, but look at the look of bliss on Doug and Scott's faces. That perfectly describes what it felt like up in the air--not intense, but blissful.

This is an aerial (balloonial?) view of a vineyard from our basket:


Another blissfull look, this time on me:


See you tomorrow!