We spent today up at Crater Lake.  It was much cooler up there; in the low 70s while it was in the 90s in the valley at Klamath Falls. 

We got up early (the clock radio had the alarm left on from the last guest and it went off a 530 although we were already awake.  We were on the road early; stopped at a local grocery store and got some sandwiches and a local IPA (Klamath Basin Brewing).  We were up into the forest and at the park by 9. 

It was a clear day and we saw the local peaks (Mt McLoughlin & Union Peak as well as Mt Shasta looming in the background.  The lake was beautiful; the sky was bright blue so the lake reflected the wonderful hue.  I had always wanted to see that blue.  When we were here in the 90s, it was a cloudy day and the lake didn’t have that famous azure colour.  Was really beautiful.  There was still a lot of snow on the ground; so much so that we couldn’t walk on several trails because they were still snowed in.  The roads around the lake were closed; we could drive the Rim Drive and made all the stops at the overlooks but that was only around about 1/3 of the lake.   Still, it was nice. 

Around noon we were getting hungry, so we drove down the mountain a little way to a picnic area that wasn’t under several feet of snow and enjoyed out little sandwiches and a delicious red potato salad w/bleu cheese from the grocery. 

After lunch, we went back up the mountain to see if we could do any more walking around by the lake.  Not really, because of the snow but we sat and looked at the view for a while before heading back to town. 

Once we were back in town, Jerry wanted to find a hiking stick and we needed a few items for breakfast the next few days.  Went to Fred Meyer’s as it is a grocery store and department store; really huge.  No hiking sticks though.  We went to 2 different sporting goods stores and none had ones he liked so we didn’t get anything for him.  But the Big 5 store was right next to the Emerald Triangle Dispensary so we decided to go in to see what the places are like in OR.  Pretty similar to CA in price and just different brands of edibles, etc.  Got some pink grapefruit gummies and some flower that was on special for 50% off. 

Came back to the hotel and I took a dip in the pool which was very refreshing.  Pool is by appointment only; you can have one 40-minute appt per day.  I enjoyed the swim and should reserve a slot for tomorrow for when we come back from the Lava Tubes (supposed to be sweltering tomorrow) 

We had a nice Thai take away dinner with some great curry and Jerry's stand by Pad Thai