Weekend trip Oregon -Travel Blog
Fiona in Frozen land -Entered to frozen world for the first time!!!
It’s a Friday night, a long weekend awaits, after all the calls and hectic day, we were chillin near our window with a cup of coffee(coffee? C’mon man it is Friyay night, ugh) and heavy thoughts in mind, are we gonna waste this weekend too because we don’t have a car. Survival without car in US is a nightmare;
Let’s rent a car and go nearby places — said my hubby. Planning a trip one day before, is not a rocket science for us. We started planning to go to Crater Lake — it is a volcanic lake located in south central Oregon. It is known for its deep blue color and water clarity. Its a visual treat!
It is our thing to draw the starting and destination place, and figure out the places which we can explore along the way. I am not boasting, we are picasso in this! I am not going to drag more on how we planned, let’s skip to the execution directly ( BGM: Can we skip to the good part)
Day1: Hoodoo Ski Area -> Three Sisters Viewpoint -> Chemult (Lodge)
With a loud vroom, we started the trip to frozen world(our ultimate destination) around 12:00PM. When we hit the highway, seeing the board “Salem”, reached out to our colleague come friend and asked him to join us for the trip. We changed our route towards Salem to pick him and continued the trip.
Hola! we reached our 1st stop — Hoodoo Ski Area. This is one of the best place for beginners to learn skiing. Book online for the lesson/ private classes to learn skiing here. We did not book in advance, so we get a chance only to enjoy the view and seeing others skiing here. Had a good time sitting and catching up on stuffs.
Seeing snow for the first time, we have gone crazy - jumping and throwing snow on each other; and myself immersed in thoughts with bgm in mind — “Pudhu Vellai Mazhai ” and loved the view.
Time ticks 4:00 PM, as we are in Day Light Saving, the sunset time at the place was around 5:30PM. We started immediately from Hoodoo to the Sisters mountain sunset view point.
2nd Stop — Sisters Mountain sunset viewpoint. Three sisters mountain is a closely spaced volcanic peaks located in west of Bend. Three sisters named as Faith (North sister), Hope (Middle Sisters) and Charity(South sister), it is popular for climbers and mountaineers. But we went to view point where you can see the three mountains altogether with a vibrant sky, mesmerizing view during sunset.
After a sunset, we reached Chemult lodge which is close by Crater lake and had amazing food — our favorite SHIN noodle and took rest. Don’t forget to pack your type of food; there are no hotels nearby other than Subway here.
Good morning! Woke up with chill air touching my feet. Yes, my friend opened the room door, and it was full white; literally 6 feet snow. We couldn’t see anything but SNOW… Giant white wall built by nature over the night around our room. The WOW mode turned to Ahh within a second as my hands and nose turned to red by the coldness in air. (I turned to Rudolph — the red nose reindeer)
After having delicious hot Shin Noodle and a cup of black coffee , we were ready to explore the crater lake. Packing up the gears to enter the dream world — Important things : Winter Gloves, Winter socks and Snow shoe(preferred), Jacket (Water resistant is better), Scarf, Muffler/Beenie (Very important). Basically you cover everything except eyes, lol.
Day2: Diamond Lake-> Crater Lake
It took exactly 30 mins to reach Diamond lake, we covered everything except eyes and walked towards the diamond lake, there were people who came with big truck carrying skimobiles — around 3 -4 varieties). Nature has welcomed us by spreading the white carpet along the way (serene view). We walked in 2 feet depth snow and reached the diamond lake; it was completely frozen and there were people who were riding snowmobiles around the lake.
We played Snow ball throw and catch for sometime and had a quality time here. I was literally waving off for everyone who were crossing us in snowmobile, it was like a snowmobile parade. 😀
We were so tired playing snow ball game in a bright sun, as we heard it takes more time to cover crater lake, we started from Diamond lake enroute to Crater lake after having a sip of yummy hot chocolate(prepared and packed by us). Crater lake has a different plan to welcome us with some surprise. The entire way has been built with 7 feet snow on both side of the road, it resembles me of a kingdom with bright white walls and mirror palace.
Breathtaking view … (I couldn’t explain my feelings here, one must feel it themselves); wanted to take a complete round of the rim — which is not possible as it is ~33 miles.
📌One small tip, visit the rim visitor center, where you can see the history behind this lake and the depth of it. You know what, the lake does have an island inside it — Wizard island (as a harry potter fan, i wanted to visit, but i could only see it).
Some information about crater lake: It was formed by the eruption of tall volcano-Mt Mazama 7,700 years ago. The depth of crater lake is 1,949 ft, it is the deepest lake in USA and the ninth deepest lake in the world.
More on crater lake experience in my next blog… Don’t miss it.
Started from crater lake as sun was setting early due to day light saving, while coming back, we faced many obstacles. The road was slippery and we din’t get snow chain for tires either, better to leave early or have snow chain. On our way back to Chemult, there was an accident and we had to wait to cross the scene. For the first time, I saw a chopper who came for rescuing the people from accident. It took more time to clear the traffic in that area as it happened in junction. By driving slowly and steadily, we reached Chemult where we stayed. There was a sound -borborygmi, coming from everyone’s stomach, yes we were so hungry.
Wait for my next blog on how we satisfied our tummy and how our rest of the night went…
