Heading South

After scrambling to find a site to lay our weary heads, we again have reservations.  At least for now.  Collier Memorial State Park, near Chiloquin, OR.  It's home to a logging museum!!!!  Most of our stay here has been just using the campground as a jumping-off point, though.  Our first full day here, we hit Crater Lake National Park.  This park has been on my list for years and years.  

Phantom Ship, it's a rock formation towards the edge of the lake.  Since the lake lies in the caldera of a volcano, you stand hundreds of feet above it.  The water is a breathtaking blue, and it is so amazing to check out all the sights, it was hard to leave it.  The temperatures were a bit stifling, though, so that made it a bit easier.  We'd get in the car, get a little cooler, and feel comfy enough to stop at the next overview.  The gift shop/visitor center was my favorite of the shops we visited.  It's the centennial of the park service, and I've wanted the kids to do the centennial Jr. Ranger booklet, but no one's had it.  Until now.  They didn't have the badges, but I got the badges at another visitor center to give to the kids when they did the activity booklet.  Now it all comes together.  YEAH!!!!!!  I also got the centennial sticker that's been difficult for me to find.  Sigh.  Life's good!      

Wizard's Hat.  It has trails on it, but there were no boats going out to it.  So sad.  The trail to get down to the lake was also closed (or at least the parking lot was), so we did not get down to water.  The kids were NOT happy about that.  The only thing that made it bearable was that the kids could get into the Williamson river from our campground.  Not the same, though.             After a short drive to Crater Lake and a good long time at the park, Wednesday we hit Lava Beds National Monument in CA.  We went out for pizza our first night here, and the pizza dude said we should make the jaunt one day.  I had planned on going camping there and hitting the Tule Lake Segregation Center, but he said they were so close by, we could easily go in a day.  Off we went.  It was not as quick as he promised, but it was a good day.  And I'm glad we're not going to camp there, it's hot.  Too hot.  The kids fell in love with caving.  Such a relief, since they HATED the caves at Lewis & Clark that we went to four years ago.  

Sunshine Cave has two collapses that allow the sunshine in and vegetation to grow.  I smacked my head in the very beginning, so I had a hard time appreciating this one.  It was amazing, but my head sure did hurt.  Then J hit his head on the way out (different spot), so it was kinda rough.  There are so many caves to explore at Lava Beds that we could easily have spent a week there just checking it out, but I don't think that's in the cards.  And that makes the kids sad.  But we'll hit more in other parks.            

Not only are there caves, but there are hikes to do.  This is Captain Jack's Stronghold.  It's a quick little hike, right out there in the sun, with little shade and a bunch of rugged terrain.  But the kids liked the hidey holes they found.  We also took a drive out to the petroglyphs, but since we had been at Petroglyphs in NM earlier this year, these were just ok.  But we drove through the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, where we saw a plethora of wildlife.  Way cool.             Sadly, we had to see just signage about the Tule Lake Segregation Center.  They're open on Saturdays.  But we got to see the buildings from a distance, and the signs didn't shy away from the fact that the internment camps were a horrible decision.  I need to get some books on that for the kids.  And go through the Constitution.  And beat into their brains that the Constitution shouldn't be thrown aside to appease our fears.