Southern Oregon, 2-5 September

Most of the time in Ruch we were out of travel mode and into life-in-general mode. Mainly doing a big load of laundry, shopping, paying bills, dealing with banks, watching some TV, and a whole lot of visiting. However, we did manage to do a few things that were interesting.

 Jacksonville (the closest town of any size to Ruch) is an old gold-mining town. The main downtown street has, for the most part, modern shops in old buildings. These go back to the middle of the nineteenth century. There is a lot of interesting history here and we partook of a little of it.

A little newer than downtown is an interesting house on the edge of town. It is a Sears Roebuck catalog house. Yes, you could buy a house from the Sears catalog. Most of them were fairly simple but, as you can see, the styles covered a large range.






We ate out a lot and we are here to tell you there is a lot of good food in the Jacksonville-Medford area. We will probably have to go on a diet after we leave.

Today, 5 September, we drove up to Crater Lake; we being Jean, Gene, Lynne, and YumYum. It basically took all day, but we all felt it was a day well spent.

Crater Lake, as its name implies, is in the caldera of Mt. Mazama. About 7,700 years ago a violent eruption released much of the magma dome under the snow-capped mountain and it collapsed into a huge caldera. Over the years, rain and snow gradually filled the hole. During this process a smaller eruption created Wizard Island. The lake is not quite 2,000 feet deep, making it the deepest in the country. No streams empty into the lake, it maintains itself by enough precipitation to balance evaporation, so it contains no sediment. The purity of the water accounts for the beautiful blue color.

We drove the rim road, 30 miles, and stopped at a few outlooks. Everyone enjoyed the views, including YumYum.












We got back to Ruch just before sunset, relaxed and happy. Maybe we will have time to watch a little television on Lynne's great setup. Tomorrow's plans call for a couple of errands, then off to the coast of California.