Subj:     151. Where are we?
Date:     Wednesday, June 9, 2004    

We've finally reached the place where we will be spending our summer. It's in the Cascade Mountains in the state of Oregon. We are in the only National Park in Oregon. The main attraction here is a beautiful lake that is the deepest lake in the United States. This lake is 1943 feet deep and is also the seventh deepest lake in the world. The lake has no river flowing into it and no river flowing out of it. The water comes from the snow melt (this place gets an average of 555 inches of snow a year) and rain. The lake is in a caldera, a large crater that is formed after a major volcanic eruption followed by the collapse of the volcanic cone.

We spent a week in Eugene visiting with Larry's daughter Michelle, her husband Keith, stocking up with supplies since we knew once we got here it would be 55 miles to the nearest supermarket, and enjoying ourselves. We left Eugene on June 1, and drove to a state park between Grant's Pass Oregon and Medford Oregon. The state park, Valley of the Rogue State Park, was really beautiful. Our RV site was huge and very pretty. Of course all of the Oregon State Parks we've seen have been beautiful. Then on June 2, we drove up to the crest of the Cascade Mountains to our current location.

Where are we? We are in Crater Lake National Park where we will be working until October. One of the many things Crater Lake National Park is known for is the amount of snowfall. Yes, here it is June 7 and there is still several feet of snow on the ground. The campground is not yet open because it's under about 3 or 4 feet of snow. The main road into the campground has been cleared but the loop roads to get to the individual campsites are still under snow. We are hoping to open parts of the campground this week but, there's a lot of snow that has either melt or be moved before the campground can open. Plus, we had an inch or two of snow last night.

We started working the day after we arrived. The first day was an orientation. But starting the second day the labor really started. Adrienne has been working with the people assigned to the kiosk to get everything set up for when the campground opens. Larry has been helping getting the grounds around the store cleaned up, doing maintenance on the rooms in the Motor Inn, moving mattresses, fixing up picnic tables that were crushed by the snowfall, and lots of other miscellaneous tasks.

The Brauers
Havin' Fun
(but working hard)
In Crater Lake National Park