Girls Weekend in Oregon: Part 2

We woke up pretty early Saturday after a 2 hour time change and early bedtime.  I grabbed some breakfast for Esme and we headed to Dani's house.  We hung out for a couple hours, packed some lunch and headed north to Crater Lake.

Esme loved all 3 dogs, but especially Link! "He's so cute and he follows me everywhere!"

I was super hopeful we'd be able to access Crater Lake on our trip.  They get nearly 45' of snow a year at the top so it's often closed for safety reasons.  This was the case a few weeks ago when we first booked our trip, but it was looking clear this day!  

The drive up was gorgeous.  the further we got, the higher the walls of snow got on either side of the road.  By the time we were to the top, it was well over the roof of Dani's car.

They have a gift shop, cafe, and observation room at the top.  Here is a model they have of the lake.

This was the first view we got of it from the observation room.  We changed in to our snow gear in here.

Esme loved hanging out with Owen.

WOW! The picture is incredible, but it still doesn't do it justice.  

We brought a couple of tubes to go sledding as well.  There wasn't on official sledding zone, you could just go wherever it was safe.  I thought Esme would be more in to it, but the combination of deeper snow, bright sun reflecting and higher elevations made her tucker out pretty quickly. Still the most beautiful place I will ever go tubing or sledding.

Of course we couldn't leave the gift shop without adding a stuffy to Esme's collection.  This is BeeTle (emphasis on the "T"), the bald eagle.

We played and rested for a bit back at Dani's house before exploring town.

We stopped at a nearby park to get a little more energy out.

Then we stopped at a local bookstore owned by one of Dani's friends.  Dani was so sweet and bought Esme a book and some gel crayons as a gift.

 For supper we ordered pizza from Rodeos,  They have a ton of fun speciality pies and we got the farmhouse.

Esme finished dinner with a sherbet push pop!  That took me back to my childhood.  We will have to get some for our house.  Esme took another dip in the pool before heading to bed.

Girls Weekend in Oregon: Part 1

Esme and I took our first girls trip this weekend.  My friend Dani and her husband, Logan, moved to Klamath Falls, OR in 2020 for his family medicine residency.  That was the beginning of Covid and I mentioned we'd have plenty of time to visit.  Fast forward 2.5 years and we hadn't made it out there yet and his residency ends this summer.  Even though they will be out there a couple more years, I didn't want to push it off.  

We flew out Friday morning.  My dad came over to hang out with Parker and get him on his van in the morning since we has to leave about 6 am.  We parked in our normal spot and waited for the shuttle to arrive.

We've been flying Sun Country lately, so it was fun to be in Terminal 1 for our Delta flight.  Security was a breeze and we were on our way.  Esme got a donut and I got a power wrap from Dunkin before boarding.

Ready to go!

We facetimed Jimmy before takeoff and Esme got some Delta wings from the flight attendant.

We had a long layover in Seattle.  Esme was looking forward to McDonald's, which was right outside out gate, but it was closed for renovations.  There were a couple other potential options, but they weren't close by.  Luckily, I came prepared with a PBJ and a plethora of snacks.

We checked out the play area which was virtually unchanged since we were here in 2013 with Parker.

Esme helped a little with her carry on, but I ended up handling our luggage most of the time.

Flight #2 to Medford, OR started with treats!

Medford is a small, 6 gate airport.  The rental car counter was just outside the exit and we were off an rolling in our Corolla in no time.

We had a beautiful drive through the mountains.  Melting snow and gravel made for a mucky road spray.  It was at this point I realized the washer fluid was empty.  Shoutout to the Odessa Market for having a gallon I could buy!

Our first view of gorgeous Upper Klamath Lake.

We grabbed McDonald's and made a quick stop at Dani's house after 14 hours of travel.  Esme was shy at first, but asked for more time when I was ready to head to the hotel.

The air in the pool area was cooler than expected, but the water was warm and Esme had a blast.  She still says this was her favorite part of the trip.  

We both slept well that first night.