The Silver Lining

It's been a productive day here in Rainy City, U.S.A. One of those where you look at the clock and wonder where the last 3 hours have gone. To be honest, it has been a long time since I've had one of those days and it felt pretty darn awesome. Marking a bunch of things off my to-do list really makes my inner Type-A personality smile.

I digress.

This post is actually about a photo I took while on my way to Crater Lake last weekend.

This was taken with a point and shoot, so please excuse the less-than-stellar quality, but if you squint and look into the background of the photo it looks like the highway climbs right into the clouds! 

Maybe this is only exciting to someone who has lived in Oregon for over a year now and looks for the silver lining when it's rainy and gray, but regardless, pretty cool right?

...and now I'm off to appease my Type-B tendencies. Relaxing with a glass of wine and Season 3 of Dexter. 

Crater Lake: Hilariously Bad Weather

Well folks, I can 100%, without-a-doubt say that it is possible to visit Crater Lake National Park and not actually see the lake.

Yes, the deepest lake in the United States (1,943 feet). The lake with a 33 mile circumference, completely lost to the human eye this weekend. Thank you Oregon weather.

So instead of this:

(www.nps.gov)

We saw this:

(The lake is literally directly behind us in this photo).

Needless to say, we spent our time at the Crater Lake Lodge reading in front of the fireplace and playing Scattergories with newfound friends. It was fun, but definitely not the scenic hikes we had planned.

Even better, when we came to leave this morning it wasn't just raining, it was sleeting. Lord, thank you for Subarus and all-wheel drive. 

(Crater Lake ladies and gents)!

(Once again, the lake is behind us).

The National Park pass is good for another 10 days, so we're debating going back next weekend. Don't worry, the weather looks much more promising! 

National Park #2

I promise I do actually study and work, but I'm headed to Crater Lake tomorrow morning!

Oh the beauty of being on a quarter system in grad school...fall classes don't start until September 27th.

I'll be back Sunday with *hopefully* some breathtaking pictures. I'm not counting on Oregon weather to cooperate with me on this, but regardless the trip is going to be great!

National Park Update

Just under a year ago, I posted about my desire to visit my first National Park (revisit the post here). I wrote about visiting Crater Lake, thinking because of its proximity to Rainy City, U.S.A., that it would be the first I would visit. Well, little did I know I would be living in Washington for the summer and would actually visit Mt. Rainier National Park first. Now that my work is done in Washington for the summer and I’m back in Rainy City (well, technically I’m on vacation back in WI for a week) I miss seeing the gigantic façade of Mt. Rainier on the horizon.

I was lucky enough to visit the Park twice this summer. The first to tackle a day-hike on the Crystal Peak trail. Being from the Midwest, this means a few things; that I a) am obsessed with mountains b) take way too many photos of said mountains and c) cannot shut up about how awesome mountains are. Visiting Mt. Rainier up close and personal (or so I thought at the time) resulted in me absolutely falling in love with the park. Here are a few photos from my first trip:

Little did I know I would be visiting the Park again in July. My friend K.A.R. and I lazily drove around the Park and took in the sights from the car, enjoyed the winding (terrifying at times) roads, enjoyed a picnic and explored the highest point you can reach without a pair of gaiters and crampons. We parked at Paradise, where the National Park Inn and visitors center is located. From a fifteen minute hike up a paved path full of tourists, we took an heinous  ample amount of photos from here:

Needless to say, I fell deeper in love with the mountain and can’t wait to go back. Perhaps to climb someday…before my joints start really punishing me.

Random thought: Mt. Rainier is technically an active volcano, so is it still technically correct to call it a mountain? 

Coast Weekend/Nirvana

To say the least, school has owned my life the past two weeks. I'm not the only one whose life has been taken over by literature reviews and presentations, so a group of us were beyond excited for our trip to the coast this past weekend.

My good friend R.D.B. spearheaded a plan to rent a beach house on the coast way back in Winter and the much anticipated weekend finally arrived! We left Rainy City, U.S.A. Friday afternoon after the 2nd year graduate students finished their final research presentations and embarked on a near three-hour drive to the coast.

After weaving through the dense forests, we finally saw ocean and turned north on the 101. With the sun hovering over the Pacific and the fact that I left my computer and all books school related back at my house, I was at peace with the world. No conceptual frameworks to mull over, no readings, no work. Heaven.

In total, twelve of us went to the coast, with a few more who joined us for the day on Saturday. We made family-style dinners, drown our stress in the sounds of the Pacific, relaxed in the hottub, played catch on the beach, read FOR FUN(!) and drank a choice adult beverage or two.

Needless to say, we're already planning next year's trip! I'll leave you with a few photos from the weekend:

(the house)

(the view)

(the coastline)

([some of] the group)

(playing catch)

(S.A.M. and Shilo)

(bliss)

Devil's Churn

My friends and I took a day trip to the Coast a couple months ago and I just found this video footage on my camera! It's a short snippet of the wave action at an inlet called Devil's Churn.

Please excuse the commentary and lack of video editing on my part. It's week 6 of the quarter and pretty much all of my energy is spent on being a grad student.

Enjoy!

Spencer's Butte Hike

It's been a long, gray winter out here in the Pacific Northwest; full-spectrum lightbulbs can only do so much for the spirit. That said, when it was a beautiful 65 degree day a few weekends ago, my good friends and I jumped on the opportunity to get outside.

We couldn't have asked for a better day for a hike! I'll let the photos speak for themselves:

(Cascade range in the distance)