Crater Lake, Oregon

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, and one of the most beautiful!  The lake was formed after the collapse of an ancient volcano named Mount Mazama. I drove from Salem to Roseburg and took the Mapquest âs directions to Crater Lake. It takes around 6hrs drive from Seattle. It was simply wonderful I loved seeing the points near Crater Lake in the distance, and the beautiful little purple flowers on the side of the road.We started noticing the snow right away, so we pulled over and played in it! When we got to the first lookout, I rounded the corner and nearly lost my breath, it was astounding to say the least.

Finally we were at Rim Village, The Gift shop had some very cute and pretty things, I picked up Christmas Ornaments that were on clearance, a photo box, a envelope of standard size postcards, and a beautiful turquoise necklace. 

Picture Perfect - Hurricane Ridge, WA

We spent one full day in Olympic Nation Park and hit all three elements (Hurricane Ridge-mountain, Hoh Rain Forest-rain forest, Rialto Beach-ocean). Hurricane Ridge was our first stop out of three.

Hurricane Ridge is about an hour and a half drive up the mountains from Port Angeles. I'd consider the drive to be mountain driving, it's slow but very beautiful. The visitor center at the end of the road had plenty of park rangers, a nice gift shop, but was also very crowded. We spent about two hours here wandering the trails, and the views were almost too beautiful to be true. We visited in August and even then the Olympic Mountains were snowcapped.

 I'd definitely return to Hurricane Ridge, and I'd recommend you visit for yourself. In fact, of all the places that we visited in the Olympic National Park , this was probably my favorite.