Yesterday my mom and dad sent me a gorgeous picture of the Oregon coastline that they saw on one of their calendars. They knew I had missed my turn in ID and ended up in OR instead of UT, so they thought if we were close to Gold Beach we should go check it out. I was so excited because we would be driving right past where the picture was taken. We were on Hwy 130 chitchatting when I saw a sign to Crater Lake National Park. I was so excited I couldn’t contain myself. I said, “Oh MY GOD, KELLY! You have to turn now. We are takin a detour. We must go see Crater Lake!” Since taking up photography this park has been at the top of my list of places to go to one day, and here I was literally a few miles from it. There is no way we were going to drive right past it.
The windy road leading up to crater lake was absolutely gorgeous. We were greeted by snow everywhere and lovely vistas. Who doesn’t love some good ol’ mountain snow as long as you don’t have to live in it. When I laid my eyes on the lake I could not believe it. It was everything I hoped and dreamed it would be! It’s truly heaven on earth. The lake was some of the deep blues I had ever seen. Kelly wanted to go out to a point that overlooked the water. I really wanted to go too, but am so sad of heights. She had to hold my hand, LOL. I get so dizzy. I’m not sure if it’s vertigo or just the lack of depth perception that messes with my head. Anyway Kelly helped me out there and back to solid ground. She seems to do that a lot for me, even when we’re not up on high places, lol.
After basking in the beauty of the deep blue Crater Lake, we made our way Crescent City, CA. Our goal for the night was to get a hotel there and then drive back to Gold Beach, OR. It was a bit out of the way but so worth it. We checked into Econo Lodge, which was a little sketchy, then grabbed dinner to go as we rushed to get to Gold Beach before sunset. There’s just something about the West Coast and the sun setting that is just so beautiful. The sea stacks dotting the coastline is breathtaking to me. God is truly leading this adventure for Kelly and me. These are places I have wanted to see and if I wouldn’t have taken that wrong turn back in Idaho we would not have gotten to see it. Today has been such an awesome day of me. Seeing God‘s handiwork answering some desires of my heart has continued to heal my soul. I am so grateful to Him in how He shows me He loves me. A friend of mine calls them God Winks. It’s been fun to share this experience with Kelly. She continues to say, ” man plans his ways, but God directs his path.”
Here are a ton of photos from today we would like to share. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did taking them. We made it to California! Tomorrow I start my riding East. Yay me! Got to get some sleep. Night y’all! Be blessed
