Wine Country and Beyond

Day 146 - Klamath, CA - Sunny and Windy Mid 30's:

Crater Lake National Park here we come! The forecast for Klamath Falls was 60˚ and sunny but I know myself well and decided that long johns were probably in order for our adventures at the national park. Ryan had been kind enough to find snowshoes for us from a couple of his friends (I don't know who they were but I am very grateful) so we packed up and headed out. When we arrived at the first visitors center I was astonished by the amount of snow. You have to look at the pictures to get an idea. It was nuts...they have tunnels to the visitors centers (both) and to the bathrooms. It was quite funny.

We got our maps and headed to the rim of the lake to start our snowshoeing trip. There were quite a few people there when we started but not surprising the further we went the fewer people we saw. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States with a depth of 1943ft and ranks 7th in the world. The water is as blue as you can imagine. I had to ask why and here is what I learned: "The color of Crater Lake is the product of its great depth, the purity and clarity of its water, and the way solar radiation interacts with water. Water molecules absorb the longer wavelengths of light better (reds, oranges, yellows, and greens). This energy slowly heats the lake throughout the summer. Shorter wavelengths (blues) are more easily scattered than absorbed. In the deep lake, some of the scattered blue light is redirected back up to the surface where we can see it. Around the edges where the water is less deep, some of the unabsorbed green sunlight is reflected back up. The color of the lake can vary from day to day depending on wind, cloud cover, and the angle of the sun." (http://www.nps.gov/archive/crla/brochures/craterlake.htm, March 27, 2010). It is an amazing sight. We snowshoed in one direction for about an hour or so before stopping for lunch. Our goal was to find a place out of the wind...did I mention it was windy? CRAZY windy!! We did find a spot and enjoyed our lunch before continuing on our way. We stopped at one point to take some pictures of a neat little rock area which led to building a mini snowman. He was so cute!!

After finishing our snowman we decided to turn around and make our way back to where we started. It took a lot less time to get back than we thought and so we continued past where we started in the opposite direction. This led us to some sort of house structure (an inn maybe?). It was crazy because we were practically at the roof line as we walked across the snow. The building also had lots of HUGE icicles that Ben decided to take down and play with...go figure! As we got by the building the wind really picked up but we ventured onward. The terrain on this side was much steeper and it finally reached a spot where I wasn't comfortable going further. I could tell Ben wanted to get to the top of this little ledge though and so I told him to go and I would wait. He was quite happy as he was able to get some pictures of the rocks you can see through the water and of Phantom Ship (it is called this because it fog it sometimes looks like a ship in the lake).

Crater Lake Interesting Info: (http://www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm, March 27, 2010)
- The park averages 533 inches of snow per year.
- Wizard Island is a cinder cone that erupted after Crater Lake began to fill with water. It is one of two islands in Crater Lake.
- The depth of Crater Lake was first measured in 1886 with a simple sounding machine that consisted of a crank and a spool of piano wire. Those first measurements showed the lake to be 1,996 feet deep - not far off from the depth of 1,943 feet that was measured with high tech equipment in 2000!
- The park was authorized on May 22, 1902.
- Seven different trees live on Phantom Ship, an island in Crater Lake. There are also colonies of violet green swallows, and several varieties of wildflowers and lichens living there.
- The "Old Man" of Crater Lake is a mountain hemlock log that has been floating upright in the lake for more than 100 years! Wind currents enable the Old Man to travel to different locations around the lake.

Once Ben returned we made our way back to the car stopping for a few fun photos on the way! We loaded up and headed back to Klamath Falls where we made a trip to the grocery store and to Borders for Ben to get a new book! We came back to Ryan's and made dinner while we watched some TV. We cleaned up a bit and then Ben headed out to pick up Boondock Saints II. We love Boondock Saints so we figured this one would be good too! Luckily Ryan got out of work early and as I write we are all sitting here watching the movie! Tomorrow it's off to some lava formed caverns...we'll see if they can live up to Luray!

Day 145 - Sonoma, CA - Sunny Low 70's:

Today we left our gracious hosts Kathy and Pierre and started our way toward Ryan's in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Our first stop was in Sonoma, California otherwise known as WINE COUNTRY. Ben was very excited for the tastings while I was more excited for the scenery and history. We arrived around 11am and headed to our first winery. Kathy had recommended Vinasa as a GREAT first stop. Not only do they make wine but they also make their own spreads. I actually didn't find any tastings of the spreads but Ben found the wine tastings. There were a couple that he REALLY liked but we didn't want to have them shipped and all that so we took their list and highlighted the ones he liked...maybe when we get back we'll order a bottle or two.

After Vinasa we made our way to Jacuzzi Family Vineyards. YES the same Jacuzzi as in the hot tubs. It was a GREAT stop. Not only do they have wine here but they also have a business called The Olive Press where they produce their own olive oil. We were able to sample the oils as well as the wines. The oils were AMAZING. The favorite was Italian Herb. It was DELICIOUS...I think I could have drank the whole thing. We decided that we will definitely be ordering these when we get back home. From here we made our way to the visitors center. We were on the lookout for a particular wine and figured they might be able to point us in the right direction. We were right. Of course it was the vineyard that we were like oh...we don't need to go there. So we took some photos at the visitors center. They have some interesting furniture and decoration.

We arrived at Cline Cellars Winery and made our way to the tasting room. As an FYI, Jacuzzi and Cline are the only two wineries in Sonoma that still offer FREE tastings. Everyone else charges at least five dollars for the tastings. Cline was Ben's favorite stop. It was nice and big, the people were so friendly...it almost felt like family...and we spent quite a bit of time there. At this stop they have a museum, a tasting room (in an old farm house), and gorgeous grounds which they offered tours of during the day. Unfortunately by the time we realized that placed offered tours we had missed all the ones near us! We were a little bummed but what can you do! Oh and did I mention they didn't have what we were looking for but they did send us to another place where we could find it.

From Cline we made our way to Shug Carneros Estate Winery. A cute German winery with gorgeous hillside grounds. Again Ben partook in a tasting. Here they specialized in Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. The bartender was a great storyteller and very well informed. He shared lots of information with us and you could tell he was very passionate about the wineries. Here we did find what we were looking for but Ben was not a fan of their version and so we pressed on looking again.

After leaving Shug we made our way to downtown Sonoma for lunch. We found a cute little cafe called Sunflower Caffe where everything was made from scratch. We both thoroughly enjoyed our meals and I would strongly recommend visiting here if you are ever in town.

Our last stop of the day was our final chance to find our mysterious and elusive wine. We were directed to Ledson Winery and Vineyards. This was without question the most BEAUTIFUL vineyard we saw during our visit. It was amazing as you can see in the pictures. Here we found what we had been looking for which made both of us very happy. Ledson was certainly the priciest of wineries that we visited but according to Ben it was with good reason.

We left Ledson and with that said goodbye to Sonoma. Even though I'm not a wine drinker I really wish we had planned to spend more time here. It is a beautiful area and I would have loved to explore more, poke in stores, and go on the tours. As we continue to say when we leave places we really enjoy...all the more reason to come back! The drive to Klamath Falls was LONG and uneventful. The start of the trip took us through the beautiful country side of Lake County and Napa County where there were more wineries and fields of grapes. It was just gorgeous. It also took us by Clear Lake which is the largest freshwater lake in California. It's BIG! The rest of the drive was uneventful highway travel. We were amazed when we got into Oregon. The mountains were lit by moonlight and you could see the snow covered terrain. We tried to take pictures and video but nothing could capture what we were seeing.

Our final destination we reached around 11:30pm. Ryan had been kind enough to set everything out for us in case he was still at work. He wasn't but he was just down the street so he came back once we were here. After we unpacked he and Ben made their way to a small get together while I did some work.