Crater Lake

On our way home, and after driving through endless sagebrush, we decided to make a short detour and visit Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States. We only planned on staying for a few minutes, long enough to stretch our legs and view the lake. As we pulled into the park we realized our little break was going to cost $25. We hadn't stopped to think it would cost to enter the national park. Thankfully we happened to have Grace's national parks pass with us, one that all 4th graders in the nation are eligible for. I suspect we would have not seen the lake otherwise.

This picture looks like I over-saturated the color, but I have no such skills. This is the actual colors of Crater Lake. It was amazing. We spent a few minutes enjoying the lake view and hiking around a few paths. We then went in search of bathrooms and water refills. 

As the girls bought their key chains in a small souvenir shop, I asked where we could refill our water (thus ensuring more bathroom breaks; it's a vicious cycle). The ranger pointed to another souvenir shop about 200 yards away. The older kids and I grabbed the water bottles, headed out for water, and found insanity. The large souvenir shop resembled Wal-Mart on Black Friday. Walls and walls of merchandise, a corner deli, and an unreasonable amount of people. We eventually realized the only place to fill our bottles was at the soda fountain. We wound our way through the mass of people, and eventually got our H2O. Ethan and Libby also managed a quick photo in all the madness. 

We loaded up in the car, fought the parking lot, and escaped unscathed. It wasn't quite the calm refreshing experience I was hoping for, but we went, we saw, we survived. 

We even managed to get one picture of all of us together. It's a poor picture, but it is proof. We started out with four kids and we left with four kids. We are amazing like that.