Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Crater Lake National Park

Two weekends ago we went to Crater Lake National Park to get away for the weekend and celebrate Mike's 29th birthday! Before going we read that some roads and trails might be closed due to snow (Crater Lake gets about 46 feet of snow annually). Once we got there we were a little surprised to find out all of the trails were closed except for one...a strenuous one. Unfortunately, hiking was out. We did enjoy driving through the areas that were open and stopping to stare at the bright blue lake.










Most of the time when we visit national parks we like to camp if the weather is good, but we decided to stay at a cabin this time. The cabins were cute, but very simple (per the usual for the national park system). It was decorated with a rustic cabin feel, and had neat pictures of the park from the early 1900s. We had a nice view of a wooded area and spent some time just relaxing in the room.

We then headed out to dinner and enjoyed a yummy meal at Annie Creek Restaurant. The rest of the evening was spent looking at the stars and hanging out in our room.

The next day we went and checked out Crater Lake Lodge. It was built in 1915 and went through a renovation in recent years. There was a large porch with a great view of the lake! The inside lobby was nicely renovated, keeping the original feel of the lodge intact. There was also a small museum room with the history of the park and lodge displayed in photos and dioramas.


We then started heading on our way out of the park, but stopped one more time at a pull out with some pretty awesome views.





It was another great trip to one of our national parks! And a very happy 29th birthday to Mike!!

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Union Creek Camping

Last weekend we started talking about what we should do for the upcoming weekend and we quickly decided on camping! So we checked out a campground we hadn't been to yet called Union Creek. It was a fairly large campground with mostly shaded spots and a creek running through...hence the name Union Creek. We decided to take our time and go out Saturday afternoon rather than trying to rush out on Friday after work. We arrived in the early afternoon and found a great site near the creek!








This campground happened to be really close to an area with a restaurant, country store, ice cream shop, and BBQ!!! So we had brisket sandwiches for dinner and ice cream for dessert. It was awesome!

 Mike had chocolate chip cookie dough and I had mountain revel blackberry. I probably don't need to tell you it was delicious, but it was delicious.
We wrapped up the night with a campfire and some stargazing. Another great weekend in the books.