We woke up pretty early to hit the road and had a very mediocre breakfast (as one would expect) at our Hampton Inn. We then however enjoyed delicious frozen mocha expresso's from one of the many coffee huts we passed on our way to Crater Lake National Park, this one was called "The Human Bean". Oregon has these little roadside coffee huts all over the place.
The caffeine wasn't enough to keep me awake though and I was passed out for most of the drive to Crater Lake. My dad woke me up as we got closer and the snow accumulation on the ground began to increase. By the time we reached the lake there was still about ten feet of snow on the ground in some places (Crater Lake gets 44ft of snowfall a year).
Unfortunately due to some technical difficulties I have no pictures to show you from Crater Lake (I do have other pictures though, don't abandon the blog just yet), a place equal if not surpassing in beauty to anything I have seen on the trip. The surface of the 2000 foot deep lake is completely still and reflects the the snow capped peaks around as it were a giant silver looking glass. I would love to be there to see summer constellations reflected on its surface under the night sky...(but alas, no pictures and the park was mostly still closed because of the abundance of snow).
We made the long to the coast through the lush evergreen's of Umpqua National Forest. Along the way we stopped at one of the most tranquil restaurant's my dad claims he has ever been to, The Steamboat Inn.
The look on my face may not indicate it well but my sandwich was delicious, as were my salad and beer (local Oregon beer, the first of many hopefully in the next two days).
After lunch I finished out the long drive to the coast, passing through the beautiful, green and rolling Oregon Countryside. Why no more than 3 million people live in this incredible state boggles my mind (half of its residence live in the Portland area). It reminds me of Scotland (or Virginia) and it still remains a place I could see myself living one day.
My dad had talked up Bandon Dunes a lot, describing it as the pinnacle of minimalist golf course design and the future Mecca of golf. He had read a book about the resort called Dream Golf . It turns out he was right to have such high expectations of the place. It really is a beautiful place, over a a thousand acres of magnificent gardens really. A great example man taking a place and making it more beautiful (yet remaining environmentally sound...unlike most golf courses).
For both my father and I our favorite part of our walk through Bandon Dunes was the labyrinth we came across in the middle of the woods. A labyrinth is like a maze except you are not meant to get lost in it. Walking a labyrinth is a spiritual discipline. In the medieval age people who could not go on crusade or pilgrimage (not all the crusaders were evil bandits) but wanted God know of their dedication walked a labyrinth often (maybe everyday) on their knees.
This labyrinth had a beautiful dedication next to it in honor of the man who helped design the whole resort who died recently from cancer. He devoted his life to the project of creating Bandon Dunes. It read...
"The labyrinth is a metaphor for our journey through life. Its path lead towards an inner light, to the center of our self and the center of the sacred; one and the same. Its direction, at times, is confusing, taking us around, and then back again. Yet it is through this circular journey of discovery and growth that we reconnect to where we once began."
Sorry if this post was heavy. Thank you so much to all of you who take the time to read the words we have written on this blog and to all our many visitors each day. I promise the next post will be more lively and humorous (today we pub hop through Portland, beer Mecca, with my pledge brother Mike Shiplet).
Longest Way Round Is The Shortest Way Home,
A dude, his dad, and soon another dude.
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