Friday morning, July 19, we got ourselves up and moving (not early enough for Chris’ liking as usual) to head to the crater lake visitor center to get some info on the 35-mile drive around the lake. It was a worthwhile stop because we actually got to see a 20-minute movie about how the lake was formed. If we’re being honest, Chris actually got to see the movie because I fell asleep. After the movie and buying our postcards and token trinket, we set off to see the beautiful blue lake that was created by a volcano that exploded and then caved into itself. (As Chris informed me post-movie.) It is over 1900 feet deep and on some days, you can see 174 feet with the naked eye – incredible clarity! Our first stop on our drive was the Watchman which was a 1.5 mile round trip hike up to a viewpoint that Chris decided he was going to come back to for sunrise photos the next morning.

Meanwhile, I was just tired, moving slow, and starting to get hungry as I didn’t get a chance to eat much breakfast. (Ok, I was pretty miserable company.) After the Watchman, we decided to head straight to Cleetwood Cove in hopes there would be a cancellation or no-show on one of the boat tours that sold out days before. (Another painful learning experience in not booking early enough ahead of time.) However, in order to get to the boat docks, you had to hike down a steep, 1-mile trail that also happens to be the only access to the lake from the rim. The lake is surrounded by steep cliffs all the way around so the only boats that have access to the water are dropped in by helicopter and they are U.S. coast guard certified boats run by the national park services. Currently, they only have one boat running at a time for four 2-hour tours with the last boat tour being at 3:30pm. I checked in with the guys at the desk at the top of the trail to see what our chances were of getting on the last tour and they told me about .01% because there were already people standing by for a cancellation. By the time Chris and I finished arguing about how long it took us to get here and had hiked down the trail to Cleetwood Cove, it was about 2:45pm. Chris wasn’t too thrilled about missing the opportunity to jump on one of the earlier boat tours and at this point, had accepted the fact that we weren’t going to get on a boat and we were just hiking down to the lakefront to go for a short swim and have a (late) lunch. I was hangry and hot but I still had some hope of grabbing a spot on the last boat tour. When we reached the bottom, I went straight to the captain with Chris sheepishly following behind me and asked him if we could camp out for any no-shows to get on his boat. Again, he told me I could camp out until next season and it is highly unlikely they would have space since there are so few tours. However, one of the younger crew guys sitting in the back interjected and asked me how many people and said he would radio to see if he could squeeze us on. After a radio call and a wink, (and paying cash only), we had 2 spots on the last boat tour! I know my grandma (Jojo) will be proud to hear how a little persistence with a little flirting can go a long way. (And a divine appointment as my dad told us to look for.) With our spot secured, we found a rock to dip our feet in the lake and eat our lunch quick before boarding. Somehow, Chris also ripped his bathing suit bottoms. (And he would like you to know after I read this to him that he only has bottoms.) While waiting in line to board, we overheard a lady arguing with the captain that they were supposed to be on the 1:15 tour and got bumped to the 3:30 but they wouldn’t let her group on. We thought about offering our spots but her group was larger than 2 and things were getting nasty between them so we kept our mouths shut. Whoops! Anyways, the boat tour probably wasn’t worth it when all was said and done. It was definitely cool to ride around on the clear blue waters and see the crater from the down up but 2 hours was a bit too long and it was getting cold. Our guide pointed out the Devil’s Backbone, Wizard Island, Phantom Ship, Pumice Castle and Palisades Point which were all fantastical names for features of the lake.

We ended the tour by filling up our water bottles from the lake because the water is so pure it doesn’t need to be filtered. (And no, we didn’t get giardia.)

It was pretty cold and windy when we landed at 5:30 and even though Chris discovered the water was 47 degrees, he insisted he needed to jump in the lake to make Robbie and Colby proud. I kind of messed up the video recording but he refused to jump twice. Whimp.

After drying off as much as he could, we set off back up the trail, getting blisters, chafing, and attacked by a million mosquitoes whenever we stopped for a picture.

We booked it to the car and refused to get out on any more stops along the drive back to the campsite for fear of being eaten alive.  We attempted to make dinner outside, using sticky paper to catch the swarms of mosquitoes around us. But by the time we sat down to eat, the food was burned from the mosquito distraction, the sticky paper was covered, and it still felt like there were just as many mosquitoes as when we got there so we gathered everything up and ate in the Fun Finder before calling it a night. 

The next morning, Chris woke up at 4:45am to make the hike up the Watchman for sunrise photos. I vaguely remember him leaving me a walkie talkie that I found out later was on the wrong channel anyway. 

CHRIS’ INSERT: On my drive to the trailhead, I realized that the colors in the sky were starting to look cool so I flew down the road way too fast and practically ran up the trail to the top, nearly dying on the way because I was so out of breath carrying all my gear and wearing way too many layers. But I made it, 15 minutes before sunrise. As I was setting up, I realized that there was a couple behind me with an officiant saying their vows as the sun crested the horizon. It was breathtaking to watch the sunrise over Crater Lake and even cooler to watch it with a wedding going on in the background. Seeing them taking a few pictures on their iphones, I offered to take a few photos on my real camera and they were very thankful to have some proper pictures. I was just excited to be part of such a unique experience. After we chatted a bit, I discovered that their officiant had been hiking solo across the country, starting in North Carolina, and he had 900 miles left to reach the Pacific Ocean. I took a few more shots of the sunrise and headed back to camp in a great mood, only to wake up a very crabby Christi. She is not a morning person whatsoever.  

CHRISTI: Once he returned and woke me, we packed up our trailer and set off for Portland with no GPS. We asked the guide at the visitor’s center for the best route out of the park and they said they didn’t know. Great help. So, we took as educated a guess as we could with no service and set off! Fortunately, we made the right decision. Neither of us can remember where we ate lunch or even if we ate lunch but we clearly didn’t starve and we made it to Portland to check in at the Sandy Riverfront RV Resort which has probably been the nicest RV resort we’ve stayed at this trip! It was right along the Sandy River and about 30 minutes outside of downtown Portland. After we got settled and changed into ‘normal people’ clothes, we decided to go check out a Vietnamese restaurant named Luc Lac in downtown Portland which was recommended by a friend.

We were intrigued by the way they do things there. You wait in line to order at the hostess desk and you place your food order and get a number while you wait to be seated. Someone brings you drinks as you wait and then you get your food about the same time as you’re seated.

Chris liked that paying was done with and it seemed to speed up the waiting process. However, we had differing opinions on if you should rush out of your seat when finished eating to allow someone else to sit or if you should still be able to linger and talk. We debated this for the rest of our walk through Portland and eventually decided to agree to disagree. I think we need to decide that more often. 

On Sunday, I showered in the resort facilities which was glorious but sleeping in and pack-up delayed us enough that we decided to (sadly) skip Cannon Beach on our way to Olympic National Park where we planned on meeting up with Chris’ family for their vacation. However, the drive to Olympic was still very pleasant and we stopped in a little town along a bay to do some grocery shopping and get some sandwiches to go. I really wanted to eat on a beach since we were skipping that today so I continued to drive along with our sandwiches, searching for a nice beach to pull over and go sit to eat. After some time, I was starting to realize that we may not find any beach with a decent spot to sit so I settled for a pull off on the side of the road overlooking the water. Where did we sit? On top of the RV! I have no idea why we haven’t done this more often but it was a lovely lunch with a great view.

After lunch, we continued on to Sol Duc campground in Olympic where we met up with the Moyer gang and spent the evening catching up around a table full of wine and cheese – something new! To end the night, Chris read me bedtime stories about Olympic from the RV bathroom.