Crater Lake - Day 5 and 6

One more exploration day at Crater Lake.  I just couldn't resist showing some more amazing shots of the lake.  And, well, my cute kids posing in the snow and at all the lookout spots.  The highest lookout spot is called Watchtower outlook, at 8100 feet.  It was enough to send my vertigo into a rage.  There was no way that a minivan should have ever been allowed on the road, or what they deemed a road made of gravel and a very steep drop off to never - never land.

Final destination before leaving Crater Lake - the gift shop of course.

Dad made all the kids a deal - he gave them $100 to shop with on the vacation.  The object was to control their spending.  He wasn't buying snacks or souvenirs - no begging allowed.  Here was the catch. . .  whoever came back with the most money won an additional $100. 

Everyone was very careful to only spend their money on those items they deemed absolutely essential and by the last day each of them had most of their money still remaining.  Abby quickly realized she had already spent more than the others had so she wouldn't be winning the additional $100, so what's a girl to do. . . well, she bought monster feet.  I think she got the best deal of all.  What 9 1/2 year old wouldn't want monster feet - and pink for that matter!

So, who won you might ask?  It happened to be a certain teenage girl - Hannah.  She was followed by a close second to Lindsay.

Our last day led us on an early morning hike on two different trails.  The Natural Bridge trail took us right along the Rogue River Gorge.  Beautiful, breath-taking boulders with thousands of gallons of water flowing over the top, snaking here and there, getting trapped in caves which were old lava tubes.  If I was a betting girl, Disneyland took their inspiration for their log rides from this gorge.

The Mill Creek Falls trail took us 2.5 miles round trip to two waterfalls jutting out of the mountainside; water flowing right underneath the tree tops.  Then back up to the top of the river where giant boulders created a series of falls and rapids for the river to twist it's way downward. 

Later that evening, the highlight of my day was taking these two littles up to the bridge near our cabin.  There was shallow water in which they could actually play in.  Mind you this water had to be 40 degrees.  George laid down, plugged his nose and dipped back into the water.  His face coming out of the water was contorted due to the extreme cold.  It was quite the sight.  Abby tried to imitate him, but she just couldn't muster up enough guts to dunk her whole head into the water.  It was pure joy!

Another glorious vacation.   We all can't wait to see where Dad takes us next year!