Over the summer we took our first family trip to Crater Lake in southern Oregon. We drove a straight shot down I-5 with just a stop-off in Eugene for a doughnut.







Even though we all knew it was a bad idea, Dadda let me drive most of the way. It was scary and fun! He had to push the pedals and I took the wheel. We swerved a lot! But, I got us to the Dunes Hotel in decent shape, where we spent the night on Friday, before driving into the park early Saturday morning. Momma and Dadda played the Grateful Dead station the whole way.







Dadda had the good sense to not let me drive once we got to the park. Momma was freaking out enough with Dadda behind the wheel! Anybody who has ever been knows why, I suppose, but if not, it’s mainly because of the lack of side-rails, and the steep, steep drop offs. Dadda told me that swervy and curvy aren’t a good mix. We made it to Rim Village in due time, despite Momma’s insistence that we go 15mph the whole way. Once there, we gained our barings and decided to tackle Mt. Scott, the highest point in the park. In hindsight, Dadda probably wished he didn’t pick up that backpack baby carrier off Craigslist, even if he did get it for a song.







The Whitebark Pines were pretty cool looking trees. This is a picture of one of their trunks. The tops were all mangled and windswept from being at such a high elevation.







Dadda held me up in the air against the background of Crater Lake. I guess this is as high as a Noodle can get at Crater Lake without being in the Fire Look-Out Cabin. Momma thought this picture would scare her momma. I don’t think she’s seen it yet.







This is a picture of a petrified Whitebark Pine.







I slept the whole way down Mt. Scott. It is exhausting being carried up a mountain! Afterwards, we set up the grill at a picnic site a little ways down the road, and I helped Dadda cooked the kebabs! It started to get pretty chilly after dinner, so we headed out of the park and up to the Diamond Lake Resort where we had booked a room for the weekend. Momma got a real kick out some of the Yelp reviews for this place. She kept going on about how ridiculous they were. We thought it was a great bargain at $30/night. We’re not too hoity-toity, though.







The next day we took it easy and did some sight-seeing around the rim of Crater Lake. We hoped to take the boat tour, but unfortunately, it was all sold out. If you go, reserve a ticket early! After a few hours, we headed back to the resort and hung out lakeside playing Scrabble and other lazy summer things.







Momma took me down, and dipped my toes in the water.







Just in case you thought you had a silly Dad, mine brings his Microplane with him on vacation. ‘It’s essential’, he says.







Before we left I went into ‘crazy-monkey mode’! I’m a super-silly Noodle Time! I wonder where I get it from?