30 May 2018 - Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Once again, I awoke early to continue my drive. My next destination was to visit Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. This involved a long drive across Oregon that took most of the day.
Eventually, I started seeing Mt. Rainier and Mt. Jefferson on the horizon. Here was an interesting stop...

I arrived at Crater Lake around 5 pm. This natural formation is even larger than I had ever imagined. The views, as I drove around the cauldron, were breathtaking.

It was a long day and I was really tired. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I headed over to the Crater Lake Lodge and asked if they had a room. It was a long-shot as this place usually has a waiting list that stretches out for months. As luck would have it, 2 rooms had canceled and were available. I took the lake side view for a rare opportunity to stay at this historic location.

I love old rustic places like this. I decided to celebrate my journey with a nice dinner at the lodge restaurant. A little pasta followed by some blackberry cobbler really hit the spot.