Hello! I'm George Bernard Shaw. My nickname is Nardy. I'm here to share with you my very own travelogue! On Sunday, I traveled to Crater Lake, which is in Southern Oregon. I showed up unannounced on the trip (I was a surprise!), and promptly found myself stuck in a car for five hours. I spent the night in Medford, which was an interesting little town. The next morning, I set off for Crater Lake! It was only about 60+ miles from Medford.
The day looked very promising! I had heard that it was supposed to be in the 80s up at Crater Lake, and the blue skies seemed to fulfill that forecast. The road was windy and bumpy in some spots, and if it got too uncomfortable--which it can when you're sitting up on the dashboard--I oinked in protest (which at first startled my co-travelers, but soon they found it very endearing and adorable).
At last! Here I am at Crater Lake!
Aaahhh. Let's take a minute to enjoy the lovely view.
Tree stumps that are gnarled and weathered beautifully abound on Crater Lake, and here I am testing the strength of one. Just kidding, I am more svelte than I look.
Did you know that Crater Lake is the deepest lake in America? It is also one of the clearest! Check out how blue that water is!
And that right there is Wizard Island! Although, according to the Klamath Indians, it is actually Llao's hat; Llao was a god that grew angry when he was scorned in love and blew up, and someone came to help the Indians and he pushed Llao down into the Earth, and only his hat is visible now. According to scientists, Wizard Island is a cone that may one day, in about 1,000 years, become active. But I will be bacon by then, so no matter.
I walked around a lot, and when I got tired I sat down on aforementioned beautiful tree stumps. Trees are that rare thing that are beautiful even in death.
My co-travelers and I drove around the Western part of the rim, stopping by most of the viewpoints. It rained a little bit, but for the most part, the weather was simply gorgeous. From my view here you can see Mt. Shasta, which is in California. Isn't that crazy?
And then, rather ambitiously, I embarked on a 0.7 mile hike up on the Watchman's Trail, whose destination is a fire watch tower at an elevation of 8,056 feet (or something like that). I felt equal parts triumph and exhaustion.
Hey! Why isn't that camera pointed at me? Just kidding (although I can definitely be a camera hog--no pun intended! Har har har).
Here I am, reflecting over my trip. I am overlooking Wizard Island and the vast Crater Lake. There is a smaller island, called Phantom Ship, which we saw, but since it was on the Southeastern side of the lake we didn't get close to it. I borrowed one of my traveling companion's binoculars, and we spied various creatures and plant life. We also saw a motorboat down in the lake--you'd think they would only allow unmotorized boats, but I suppose one would get tired fast if you had to row your way around the lake.
It is such a massive beauty of nature, I can scarcely wrap my head around it. It was a wonderful trip, and I am so happy that I got to go. I can't wait to write my next travelogue!
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