A Snowy Pit Stop: Crater Lake

I finally have some time to sit down and write.. It has been quite an eventful past month!

I'll revert back to one of the marvelous wonders Grace and I ventured out to in Oregon.

First, we had a new addition to our team; the lovely Ling Lee from New Zealand.

Hi Ling! You can't tell in this photo, but this brave Kiwi was rocking shorts and skate shoes the whole time we explored in the snow. What a champion.

We had just departed Medford after a fantastic few days at the lovely Skate Estate and with Carmen and Alicia (a story for another time) and decided to head towards Crater Lake on our way to Portland. A bit of a detour yes, but worth it 1000%.

The forecast predicted snow throughout the day but we persisted. Once we veered off the main highway, it wasn't long until white walls surrounded us.

Grace and I to provide a scale. The snow only gained in height from this point on.

We made a few pit stops to revel in the snowy heights, and of course to have an occasional snowball fight.

Photos and proper snowball dodging done by ninja master Ling.

I was a bit weary of heading deeper into the park as the temperatures began to reach freezing and snow started falling from the sky. Curiosity took over and we continued on, slowly.. very slowly.

Eventually, we made it to the end of the road. We were skeptical as to what laid before us. A few cars parked, but we saw nothing but white in the near distance.

But then it hit us, pretty much all at once. We had made it.

Just over the crest of snow before us was the lake.

We gathered our warm clothes and scurried up the snowy hillside and boom:

there it was.

It was freezing atop the lookout point and the view was quite foggy.

We walked around a bit to explore what we could see. Then, to our delight, a brilliant light overcame us. The sun had come out from behind the clouds dispersing them away from the lake.

We were graced (ha, get it?!) momentarily with a clear view and wow, was it gorgeous.

Of course, we had to take a group selfie.

Thank you to Ling's wonderful long arms!

We couldn't help but notice the gigantic icicles, about 20 ft up.

After many photos and Oh's and Ah's we headed off the crest and down to grab some warm drinks.

Grace ate her first American hot dog, sorry about it's quality and Ling enjoyed some soup while I gathered some souvenirs. Then it was time to depart and make our way up to Portland.

If you are ever in Oregon, make Crater Lake a must see, especially in snow!!

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