Reflections of My Travel

Last night, Hayman made a point of telling us how it never rains here. “When they say it’s raining, it’s really just a mist, or a heavy fog.” This morning, it was pouring. Our plan was to visit Mt Hood after work this afternoon but it’s just rained (rain, not mist) on and off all day. We looked up the conditions on their webcam and decided there just wasn’t much of a point. It’ll be good to have a day of rest anyhow.

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We made it back to the coast after work this afternoon and drove as far as we could before the 101 stopped hugging the coast. It was a beautifully coast day. We got out and climbed on some of the big Oregon dunes and we even saw (and smelled!) some sea lions lying around lazily on rocks. When we realized that our drive would no longer be coastal, we called my friend Hayman and invited ourselves to his place for the night (originally, we weren’t supposed to arrive here until this weekend). It was pretty late when we got here so we only got to take a quick tour of his new condo and talk a few minutes. It’s good to see him again. He moved here from Orlando a few months ago but I probably haven’t seen him since sometime last year. It’s nice to have friends like him and Brian and Sylvia around the country who will welcome us into their home (even if we just call an hour ahead).

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We decided today was the day to part from the coast a bit. We left after work to head inland to Crater Lake. It was a four hour sidetrack but I would say it was worthwhile. We got there and made the rim loop around it. Some vantage points were definitely more picturesque than others, but that probably has something to do with the angle of the blinding sun so late in the afternoon. After driving all the way around and getting plenty of pics, we started to make our way back to the coast. We put in another three hours of driving until we stopped at a town big enough to have a hotel. Although really, it was the first town that had anything at all along that road.