The room at the Crater Lake Lodge was impressively quiet. The refurb they did a while back probably helped that.
Before going to the dining room for breakfast at 8:25, I had to photograph the lake.
We switched places compared to last night so that my husband would be the one with the view. It was tough to decide what to order, because the menu made everything sound so good. My husband suggested we split whatever we ordered so that we could try more things. I ordered the Meadows Omelet for $12.25, only partially because it had Tillamook Cheese in it. My husband wanted the Great Hall Strata, but that's been discontinued. So, he ordered the Creme Brulee French Toast for $9.95, because, how could you not? Both meals were quite good. We hadn't known what to expect of the French Toast. I think it was milder and perhaps creamier than what I've had before. It came with both marionberry and maple syrup, while the toast with the eggs had marionberry jam. They really like marionberries in this state.
We went back to the room to pack up. I got a shot of Llao Rock from our ground floor window.
We checked out and were in the car at 9:55 (1921). We decided to stop at Watchman for the last known pit stop and a last view of the lake. It was hazier than yesterday and there was a cool breeze.
At 10:16, we joined the line waiting on the construction. It was moving by 10:25 and just 16 minutes later, we exited the park. Cell service was spotty as we drove through the lava rock field. We found a rest area on US 97 at 11:05 (1958) and made a 5 minute stop.
At 12:06, we took Exit 151 for the Lavalands. We decided the Visitor's Center should be our first stop and in less than 5 minutes we were paying the $5 fee for the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. We visited the exhibits and shops before I took a walk on part of the path behind the center. It was so amazing to see so much volcanic rock and very little growing in it even after all these hundreds of years. The Lava Butte is quite a sight rising up behind the lava that it spewed out.
At 1:15, we went back to the car and headed back to the Lava River Cave. The ride took only 5 minutes. We grabbed up our jackets and hats to prepare for the chilly temps averaging 42 degrees in the cave. I'd brought LED flashlights for each of us from home. The cave itself is free, which is nice. We entered the cave at 1:59 and found it chilly, not cold, but damp.
You go down a steep path to that entrance and then go down metal stairs and across metal platforms. But, soon the metal is gone and you've got rocks to traverse. I think they are a warning to reconsider what you are doing. At times, the 1.1 mile cave is pretty level. At others, you've got to really consider where you are going to put your feet, especially if you have arthritic knees. The Forest Service had spread fine dirt/ sand along portions of the cave. At times, you'd run into a sign that gave you an idea of where you were and what you were encountering. Photos are tough, but I got a few.
We were passed by young and old, but it didn't matter. We were going to do this. At 3:20, we came back out, having spent significantly more than the 1.5 hours the sign had said. We saw young kids coming in in shorts and t-shirts and in flip flops! Can't people read?
When we got back to the car, I changed back into shorts, because it was just too hot! My husband changed his mind about going up the butte, so we went back to the Visitor's Center. At 3:45, we just managed to catch the shuttle, paying $2 each for the round trip ride. Well, $5 total, because we didn't have change and neither did the driver.
He told us interesting facts on the spiral ride up the butte. At the top, my husband decided to go up to the Lookout, but I couldn't face steps. So, I went down to the rim trail. I had great views of the caldera and the surrounding lava field.
I found, to my horror, that the rim trail didn't stay level, but suddenly started sloping up to concrete poured to form a path to the Lookout. I thought the slope was bad, but the concrete didn't follow the contours, but just formed a giant step at the end. But, I made it! The Lookout really does have a fire lookout on the very top. I met my husband on the next level down from that and enjoyed the views. There was another lava cone not far away. (The Lava Butte had been a cone before it erupted.)
We got back on the shuttle at 4:30 and it took only 6 minutes to get back to the Visitor's Center, where we made a pit stop before leaving at 4:46 (2018).
At 5:06, we stopped at the Towne Pump in Bend (2032). Once again, we had full service, finding out only later that that is the law. We got 14.5 gallons at $2.34 each.
On the road again at 5:09, we started looking for the Motel West. We arrived at 5:14 and found your basic 2-story old school motel. We were assigned room 124, which had not only a fridge, but a separate freezer!
We did some searching on Google, before going out to dinner at 5:48. It was a hot 90 degrees.
At 5:55, we found a parking spot around the corner from the Bend Brewing Company in downtown Bend. We opted for eating indoors. Just too hot to do otherwise. They had quite a beer list, of course. I chose an interesting sounding Peach Offering Sour Ale ($5), which turned out to be quite nice indeed. My husband got Pinnacle Porter for $4 and enjoyed it. He got the Grilled Steakhead Special ($14) and I ordered the Pub Cheeseburger with fries ($13). Both meals were good.
At 7, when we decided to stroll the town a bit, we found the farmer's market down the street packing up. That was disappointing! Not only did they have the usual fruits and vegetables, but some had meats and some had baked goods. We turned at the end to go up to the main street. There we found shops closed, which struck us as foolish. We weren't the only ones out and about and it was still daylight.
I was happy to see that the chocolate/ ice cream shop by the car was still open at 7:15. It was called Goody's and was quite charming. My husband was full, but I had one scoop of the tasty Brownie Batter ice cream for $3.95.
We got back in the car at 7:35 and my husband dropped me at the motel at 7:42. He went off for breakfast items and came back at 8:42 with muffins, juice, bananas- and a new keyboard for me to continue my blog, since mine died. Aww!
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