This morning we woke up cold, as usual with camping at high altitudes, but not as cool as Yellowstone. We got up earlier because we wanted to see Crater Lake before we left as we got in too late last night to see it. We took a windy drive all around the lake. It's a pretty surreal place. The water is a deep, pure blue and there's no apparent place where you'd put in a boat (though apparently there are boat tours). Justin and I were curious about how it's possible that there are fish in the water as the lake was literally created by rain and snow filling up a hole left by an old volcano for 7000 years and were excited by the idea that they evolved somehow on their own. However, as we found out, the truth is pretty lame; the man who started the park just dumped like 100 types of fish in the water to see which ones would live. Only two did, rainbow trout and another I can't remember. Boring.
Anyway, Crater Lake was pretty sweet. I particularly liked this rock they called the Phantom Ship, not only because there's a phantom ship in like every video game I've ever played, but also because it really does look like a ship in the middle of the lake. It's the top of an even older volcano that the original volcano overtook. Volcanoes leave behind the coolest formations. Devil's Tower is like that, too.
ALSO (last thing about Crater Lake, I swear): Apparently, there's an entire tree that fell into the lake probably 100 years ago that they call "the old man in the lake" and he floats around all day. We didn't see it, though.
Our drive to Redwood was short; only about 4 hours. We stopped halfway to have Taco Bell, the first real fast food we'd had the entire trip. Needless to say, it was wonderful. Caroline hadn't really eaten there much in her life, but I think we might have made a convert of her.
Highlights of Taco Bell:
-So good.
-There was a sign on the wall that said, "Mexican-Inspired". Ahahahhaaha.
-I had a chalupa for the first time. I approved.
-Justin had the new "Volcano Taco", which has a red shell and spicy nacho cheese. He says it was pretty good and pretty spicy.
We didn't actually stay in Redwood National Park. We were in a smaller state park (I guess that's how it's done in these parts). It was a nice campsite and we were close to the bathrooms (because last night we were really far from them). However, the showers cost money (50 cents for 5 minutes!) which sucked. I managed to take a 5 min shower, though, which was impressive for me.
Anyway, we took a walk through the forest to look at some big trees. They were pretty big trees, let me tell you. I can't really explain with words. Pictures are better, but even they can't do them justice. They were big. And tall. And straight.
We agreed that it seemed a lot like what we'd imagined Fangorn Forest looked like. It was dense, but not as not dark and sinister as Mirkwood would be. And it just felt so ancient.
And then we headed back to the campsite for dinner and a campfire. Tomorrow we have a long drive down Highway 1 to Luke's uncle's place in San Francisco! Also, we have to cross the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. Yay, Chinatown!
-bekerz
p.s. Go check out my Seattle post! I put in pictures.
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