This weekend we took a road trip to Crater Lake National Park. Matt had a meeting that he couldn't miss on Friday, so the kids and I left Friday morning and he drove down Friday evening, arriving around 9:15pm.
Our first stop on our road trip was Crescent Lake!
We entered the park through the north entrance and stopped at a few of the pull outs along the way to check out the view of the lake! The weather was perfect...mid 80s and all blue sky! The park ranger told us that a storm had come through the area this week and left on Thursday morning. Another storm is supposed to blow in Monday.
We stopped at the Visitor Center and then took a hike. Photo above is of the "Lady in the Woods"
Then it was off to "Goodbye Creek" picnic area, where the boys tossed the football in the woods and Brandon cooked hot dogs on our grill!
Our first picnic dinner at Crater Lake!
We stayed at the Mazama Village Cabins. Photo above is of Cabin "G". The cabins have 4 hotel like rooms under 1 roof (two of which we rented for the weekend). Once again Tyler volunteered to stay in the "girl's" cabin.
Our first day Sarah was really wound up and it took her forever to finally fall asleep. Here she is snuggling up her "pink bear", a gift from Uncle Mike.
Saturday we started our morning off up at Crater Lake Lodge where we walked down to the viewpoint overlooking the lake. Tori, Ryan and Tyler viewing Wizard Island.
Our view from the lookout... We loved the reflection of the mountains in the lake.
Wizard Island 
This is the view looking down 1000 feet from the lookout. The park ranger told us there is literally "no beach at all". In fact, where the water turns blue at the edge is a minimum of 100 feet deep.After our stop there we decided to follow take the rim drive around the lake!
Our next stop was Vidae Falls (if you click on the photo above it will enlarge and you can see Matt, Tori and Tyler coming down from the top of the falls)
Matt in the middle of the falls
Matt, Tori and Tyler climbed to the very top of the falls. This is a photo Matt took while up there.
Our next stop was to hike the Phantom Ship trail to the viewpoint.
A close up of the small island that is called Phantom Ship!
Sarah and Ryan
On the way down the trail this was the view to the west!
Our next stop was to visit the Sarah found a tree that formed a seat and wanted her picture taken on it while we were hiking the Pinnacle trail.
A view of the pinnacles.
Near the end of the trail looking West to the Pinnacles.
You can see the ash which was cemented along with all of the volcanic rock!
One last view!
At the end of the trail is a sign saying we were entering the "Winema Forest"
On the opposite side of the sign, it lets you know you are entering Crater Lake National Park.
Our next stop around the rim was a visit to the "Pumice Castle"
Close up of the pumice rock formation!
The small dot in the center of the photo is "The Old Man of Crater Lake" as seen from one of the pull outs.
After a picnic lunch we headed to the Pumice Dessert where we searched for various forms of volcanic rock. We found the rock totem out in the desert and Matt added what he deemed a "hat" to the top.
We headed out of the park to Diamond Lake around 2pm. Above is the view of Diamond Lake!
The kids spent a couple of hours swimming in the lake cooling off
The lake wasn't very busy, but the bugs were plentiful.
A view of Mt. Thielsen from Diamond Lake
After leaving Diamond Lake we headed back to Crater Lake. We are always on a quest to find snow (see previous posts this summer) and weren't disappointed as we made our way back to the cabin and stopped for the kids to have a snowball fight and to do a little body sledding.
We stopped at Goodbye Picnic Area again for dinner and saw these deer on our way there. Both bucks were getting ready to cross the road. The one above stopped.
A close up 
This buck made it across the road and stopped to stare! While we were having dinner at Goodbye Picnic Area 2 does and 2 fawns walked by out table about 25 feet from us. We followed them into the woods and took photos while they ate vegetation and drank from the stream. Unfortunately all of the photos turned out blurry.
Our cabin didn't have a fire pit, so Matt got creative after dinner with our bbq and found a way to cook up smores! Above is Tyler's "smores face".
Sarah's smores face
Saying goodbey to Crater Lake!
Another view of Odell Lake from the resort.
A view of the pinnacles.
Near the end of the trail looking West to the Pinnacles.
You can see the ash which was cemented along with all of the volcanic rock!
One last view!
At the end of the trail is a sign saying we were entering the "Winema Forest"
On the opposite side of the sign, it lets you know you are entering Crater Lake National Park.
Our next stop around the rim was a visit to the "Pumice Castle"
Close up of the pumice rock formation!The small dot in the center of the photo is "The Old Man of Crater Lake" as seen from one of the pull outs.
After a picnic lunch we headed to the Pumice Dessert where we searched for various forms of volcanic rock. We found the rock totem out in the desert and Matt added what he deemed a "hat" to the top.We headed out of the park to Diamond Lake around 2pm. Above is the view of Diamond Lake!
The kids spent a couple of hours swimming in the lake cooling off
The lake wasn't very busy, but the bugs were plentiful.
A view of Mt. Thielsen from Diamond Lake
After leaving Diamond Lake we headed back to Crater Lake. We are always on a quest to find snow (see previous posts this summer) and weren't disappointed as we made our way back to the cabin and stopped for the kids to have a snowball fight and to do a little body sledding.
We stopped at Goodbye Picnic Area again for dinner and saw these deer on our way there. Both bucks were getting ready to cross the road. The one above stopped.
A close up This buck made it across the road and stopped to stare! While we were having dinner at Goodbye Picnic Area 2 does and 2 fawns walked by out table about 25 feet from us. We followed them into the woods and took photos while they ate vegetation and drank from the stream. Unfortunately all of the photos turned out blurry.
Our cabin didn't have a fire pit, so Matt got creative after dinner with our bbq and found a way to cook up smores! Above is Tyler's "smores face".
Sarah's smores faceSunday morning the most amazing thing happened......Tyler turned 8! Above is his birthday photo so he will remember his day!
Saying goodbey to Crater Lake!On our way home we stopped to visit Odell Lake!
Another view of Odell Lake from the resort.
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