Everyone we know who has been to Crater Lake has told us the lake is an unbelievable blue. They were so right. I haven’t done anything to edit the picture above. It’s really that blue. The lake is 1,943 feet deep – the deepest in the US. It’s also said to be the purest water.

The lake was created 7,700 years ago when Mount Mazama experienced a volcanic eruption. It then collapsed in on itself and gradually snow and rain filled the crater.

From all angles around the lake you can see snow left over from last winter. (That’s the white stuff down near the water.) Crater Lake averages 44 feet of snow every winter. Last year they had 56 feet. The park’s “season” is short, although the main road is open year round. Last week we discovered the two campgrounds had already closed mid-September. They will re-open sometime next June, depending on the snow fall.

There are numerous hiking trails around the park, a visitor center/museum and various ranger programs. There’s a Boat Tour on the lake in the park’s “green” boat. No other boats are allowed.

There is a road that circles the park called the rim road. The average person can drive the rim road in their own car. Jay decided he’d rather see the sights than concentrate on the road, so we took the Trolley Tour. As it turned out, that was a good decision. The road is very narrow, especially for our truck, and quite curvy.

The tour was led by a ranger. We stopped numerous times to get a closer look at the variety of natural features. The ranger was a very sweet young woman, but she never stopped talking. My brain was stuffed with information by the end of the two hours. She pointed out trees and birds, told us several stories about the legends associated with the park and loads of geological information. I was impressed. That was the highlight of our visit.

The end of September was a good time to visit this national park. The crowds were light, the weather was warm, the skies were bright blue and so was Crater Lake. It felt good to be back on the road again.

Favorite Places

I know that we are in the central part of the state and I’ve seen what I’m pretty sure is Highway 101. The Highway 101 clue is not a good one as many of the missions are located along that highway.

On my last trip south, my husband drove down later and then we drove back north together. I hoped this would be a good chance to solve this mystery. It was.

As we came around a curve in the road a little ways north of Paso Robles, there it was. We pulled off the road to take a closer look.

This is an amazing, yet simple church. It stands tall over all the lower buildings and houses nearby. The most amazing part is that it was built in 1799. (The mission was founded in 1797.) It is constructed of handmade adobe brick.

Additional rooms are contained in an additional wing built in the traditional mission style.

While the exterior of the mission is plain, the interior was painted by the Indians. The paintings survived and are still visible today. (This picture is not mine. It is from USA Tourist Net.)

The original trail leading to all the missions was called El Camino Real. It was marked with bells like the one you see hear outside Mission de San Miguel. You can also see these bells all along Highway 101 which is how I knew what highway this mission was on.

The San Miguel mission is in the heart of the very hot and dry Salinas Valley. The vegetation, unless under irrigation, is that of a dry, desert region. A nice treat for us the day we visited the mission was this lovely cactus which was just about to bloom.

There is something about these ancient missions that fascinates me. I went to high school in San Fernando which has a lovely old mission and I’ve visited quite a few of them. Visiting San Muguel has stirred my interest in revisiting some of them again. I’m definitely counting Mission de San Miguel as one of my Favorite Places.

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***Note to everyone who is following my Vine To Wine feature:

The grapes have changed very little since last month. I thought they might be growing but I can’t see much difference. I suspect that harvest time is not too far away. I’m actually hearing rumors of that. I’ll let you know when that happens.

It really wasn’t snooping since the gate was already open. I believe they wanted me to look at their lovely garden.

They’ve created wide pathways for walking and admiring the plants.

They created the garden for breauty as well as food.

It would not be a hardship to work in this garden.

I will confess this is not the first garden I’ve snooped in. I still remember those beautiful backyard gardens of Williamsburg. And then there are the historic gardens of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. It’s been probably fifteen or so years since we’ve been there. Can someone tell me if they are still there? I hope they have kept them beautiful.

I hope you’ll join me again in a couple of weeks when I’ll show you another one of my Favorite Place.

I’ve been gone for a month so I was surprised at how much they have grown. The picture of the vine above was taken in March of this year. Here’s how it looks now:

They are filling out so much that the mountains are no longer visible. The leaves are expanding and the grapes are filling out nicely.

Here’s a close-up shot. See the grapes growing all along the bottom?

We are learning that every vineyard has it’s own style of holding the grape vines up off the ground.  They do it by using a variety of trellises. This method you see above is called vertical. The posts hold several wires and the grape vines are placed in between those wires. It makes the plant look very flat.

This trellis is called Lyre. There is still the use of wires but the plant can spread a quite a bit more in between the u-shaped trellis.

Here is a very old plant that has no trellis at all. (The wires you see are the drip-lines for watering the vines.) Some of these old vines can be decades old. Isn’t it beautiful?

I hope you’ll join me again in a couple of weeks when I’ll show you another Favorite Place. Feel free to join in and share some of your Favorite Places. Leave a link in the comments and we’ll come visit you.

Favorite Places is a time when I can share with you some of the places we’ve been in our travels.

This week I want to share another of our Alaska chapters.

There are several ways to get to Alaska: airplane, ferry, cruise ship or the Alaska Highway. If you have unlimited time and you crave adventure, driving the Alaska Highway is the best way to get there.

As you can see on the map above, the highway starts in Dawson Creek. That is way up there in Northern British Columbia.  We were coming from Portland, Oregon so we went on up through British Columbia. That area alone is worthy of several weeks of discovery.

The term “highway” is to be used cautiously. For the most part the road is covered with asphalt. The wise traveler prepares for the parts that are only gravel.

There are long distances between “settlements.” There’s great camaraderie among the travelers because it’s often rare to see another one. Some travelers carry along signs advertising their hometowns. Their purpose is to post their sign here in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. We saw tens of thousands posted on these walls.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that as we traveled we saw incredible mountain ranges around every turn in the road. The scenery is just spectacular.

We took our time wandering the highway between British Columbia, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. It took us a month but we finally crossed the border and drove on into Alaska. The city of Tok was our first stop. There we visited the Alaska Highway Museum and learned about the history of building the highway we’d just spent so much time on.

A trip to Alaska is strongly recommended for all retirees. Many areas reminded us of the lower forty-eight back in the 1950s and 1960s. Great nostalgia in addition to the adventure of it all.

I hope you’ll join me again in a couple of weeks when I’ll show you another Favorite Place. Feel free to join in and share some of your Favorite Places. Leave a link in the comments and we’ll come visit you.

By the middle of June the plants are beginning to overflow their trellises. I’m just starting to learn that there are quite a variety of trellises used on the various vineyards and plants. I’m starting to gather pictures of them and I’ll share with you next month.

Here is how “my” vine looks in mid-June. We can barely see the mountains.

We had to look closely, but we discovered some very tiny grapes.

As we roam around looking at vineyards, I’ve noticed that each one tries to feature something different. I assume they are trying to attract visitors. Here at Matansas Creek Winery they have a lavender garden.

The part I like best is when I can stick my head down into the bush and take a deep breath.

Watch out for the bees! They love this garden too.

I hope you’ll join me again in a couple of weeks when I’ll show you another Favorite Place. Feel free to join in and share some of your Favorite Places. Leave a link in the comments and we’ll come visit you.

Can’t you just imagine the old mountain men and settlers standing on this ridge looking over the new land?  Does it look like something you’ve seen in a movie?

And here’s a place for the thirsty cowboys. They have to hold back the thirsty cattle from stampeding.

(Yes, I’ve seen a million of these movies. That was an exaggeration. It’s really only half a million.)

I think this picture shows the area where John Wayne

and the good guys trapped the bad guys. It looks like a dead-end canyon.

The natural beauty of the area does lend itself to both the imagination and great camera shots.

I hope you’ll join me again in a couple of weeks when I’ll show you another Favorite Place. Feel free to join in and share some of your Favorite Places. Leave a link in the comments and we’ll come visit you.

If you are a road trip lover like me, you are always looking for suggestions on new places to check out. My husband and I have been on a four-year road trip since retirement but it never grows old. I’ve put together a list of my favorite resources below. In addition to these, I always buy the newest edition of Rand McNally’s Road Atlas.

1.  Off the Beaten Pathby the editors of Reader’s Digest is one of our favorites. I did a review of this book last year. It’s excellent for finding those little-known places that are so interesting but not overrun with tourists. It’s organized state by state with at least 10 to 15 out of the way place per state. Great for day trips or longer vacations.

2.  The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips by Robert J. Dolezal
Here you will find a list of the best drives within the various regions of the country. Each drive has a good map, has an informative description of the trip, and suggestions for different sights along the route.

3.  National Geographic Guide to Scenic Highways and Byways, 3d Ed.This one is a gem of information about various drives, some famous and some mostly locally known. There are lots of maps and, as expected, gorgeous photographs.

4.  Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America’s Two-Lane Highwaysby Jamie Jensen. As the subtitle suggests, the best way to see the United States is by getting off the interstate highways. This book focuses on the cross-country roads that horizontally and vertically span the nation. This is the super fun guide that covers the oddball museums, nostalgic diners, out of the way attractions, tons of trivia and even local radio stations. Be sure you are getting the latest edition (fifth, 2009) as some things may no longer be valid.

The last suggestion I have is to stop at the nice Welcome Centers that you see along various routes and near bigger towns. Most of them offer state maps that are the latest. Almost every attraction prints up a brochure and has it waiting for you to pick up. Generally the people in those centers are super-nice.

Our family loves the story about a brochure and my mom. She picked up one on a road trip to New England a few years ago. The brochure was titled “31 of the Best Quilt Shops In Maine.” My mom was instantly determined that we would visit each shop, take pictures and, of course, buy fabric. We didn’t get to all 31 but we gave it our best shot.

Just like our quilt shop tour, a road trip can be personally designed to suit the each traveler. So, whether you want to see all the national parks or just go to the country to show the kids where their milk comes from, a great road trip is available wherever you live. And then you can always fly to some great place, rent a car and start your road trip from there. Whatever you choose, I hope you’ll plan to get out and see the country. And, of course, I hope you’ll check out some of these books.

Some of the books I mentioned above we own. They are all available at most libraries. I’ve also linked each book to Amazon.

This week I’ve been thinking about Big Bend National Park located in southern Texas.

The park is known for it’s beautiful natural resources.

A visitor can see the Chinos Mountains, the Rio Grande River as well as the desert.

Big Bend National Park lives up to it’s first name – Big.

The term “seeing for miles” is very appropriate here.

For me, it had a feeling of loneliness. This old homestead down in a valley

looked empty and alone. We saw very few visitors while visiting. That added to the feeling.

The Texas state flower, Bluebonnets, were just starting to bloom in the park when we visited (late winter).My pictures didn’t turn out too good. I borrowed this one from the National Park Service’s website for Big Bend National Park.

PLEASE NOTE: After nearly 70 Favorite Places posts, I’m running low on places to tell you about. I’m going to change this feature to a twice-a-month feature. I’ll be back on the first and third Sunday of the month. Look for Favorite Places again on June 6th and 20th. Thanks to everyone who has been faithfully reading my posts. I appreciate you.

My goal is to share with you the progress of the wine as it grows on the vine.

Here’s the field last month – mid April.

And now the same field in mid-May. What a difference a month makes in the field.

I hope you’ll join me again next Sunday for another look at a Favorite Place. Please check the comment section to see if others have posted a Favorite Place. Please follow their links and say hello.