Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

We headed over to Bend, Oregon to stay with Audrey’s cousin Denver and his girlfriend Kaylee. That night we had dinner at the sushi restaurant Denver is a chef at, Five Fusion. It was delicious, to say the least. After, before our hosts were off work, Audrey and I headed to 10 Barrel Brewing to indulge our tastebuds. We saw one of the coolest sunsets with a rainbow and had some of the coolest-tasting beer…one of the best date nights!

Then we headed back to the house and let’s just say…we drank a lot. It was a great night with plenty of talking and laughter that ended with Denver cheffing up some stir fry that was the perfect nightcap. The next morning was supposed to be a river day for Audrey and me but due to our overindulgence in alcoholic beverages…we decided to stay on the couch all day and watch Season 1 of Dexter. Overall, Bend was a short trip but a very fun and relaxing trip that prepared us for a couple of long upcoming drives!

After Bend, we departed for Crater Lake National Park. The park was created because a volcano collapsed in on itself, when this happens it is called a Caldera. Basically, this formed a massive Crater surrounded by mountains and plenty of cliff edges. The first hike we did was Cleetwood Cove Trail which brought us to a 35-foot cliff that people cliff jump from. You know that saying about how if your friends jump off a bridge would you too? Well yeah, we would, so we jumped off. It was very very cold water but well worth the cool off. Then, we decided to reach a high lookout point in the park, so we hiked to Garfield’s Peak. It was well worth the climb and got us a panoramic view of the whole lake, we even noticed that there is an island in the lake that classifies as another volcano! Needless to say, Crater Lake is definitely near the top of our lists for the most visually appealing parks.