Thelma and Louise: The Road to Crater

We took two days to get to Crater Lake -- you know how we like to stop and smell the roses. :) First we stopped in Portland to see an old friend. I mean old in both ways. And she would laugh at that, so it's okay. ;) My favorite quote of the day was, "Dorothea and Charles' granddaughter has a medicare card. I MUST be old." It's always nice to visit with someone who knows where your story started.

From Portland we began the long and arduous journey down I-5. We stopped off at the Woodburn Outlets because... Well, does one need a reason? We went in every shoe store, but guess what? We bought bags!! You know what else they had (um, pretty much all over Oregon)? Harry & David's! Remember when they had that dessert store next to the downtown Bellevue QFC? Love. And yum. Well, they don't have baked pears at the outlet, but still...

From there, onward to Eugene for the night. When you are new in a town, one way streets are really a bear. And for two girls that went to small colleges, wow.

In the morning after coffee and a funky college-town breakfast, we headed south again. On our way, we stopped at several covered bridges.

My favorite was the Office Bridge in...oh my, where were we? Maybe close to Oakridge? The bridge used to connect the office to the mill. And of course, because it was like 90 degrees and we are ever in search of history, we searched around looking for signs of the long-lost mill. We found the concrete pad, but not much else. Sometimes, people do clean up their "messes".