3rd July 2016 - Ashland OR - Kms to date 1654.

326 kms today

The main topic of conversation with Verna and Al at breakfast was should we or shouldn't we go to Ashland via Crater Lake NP. They thought it was too far out of our way, but some Japanese girls staying at Winema Lodge said it was fantastic, but crowded.  When we found out that Verna and Al had hardly been outside the Tulelake area we chose the Japanese girls advice.  As soon as we crossed the State line into Oregon, we noticed that the towns looked much more prosperous than in North East California.  The road to Crater Lake took us alongside Klamath lake, a very large body of water that provided the irrigation water for the farmers growing grass around Tulelake. The snowcapped Mt McLoughlin came into view across the lake and then we started to climb up to 6,000 ft to the rim of the crater.  The site once was a huge shield volcano called Mt Mazama  that developed a magma chamber underneath. About 8,000 years ago the volcano collapsed into the magma chamber in a gargantuan caldera eruption. Trillions of tonnes of superheated ash was expelled into the air, destroying everything around the crater and leaving a huge hole.  1,200m of mountain had been blown away.  The hole was surrounded by the jagged edge of what was Mt Mazama.

Crater Lake.

Our intrepid travelers.

The hole filled with rain and snow melt and eventually created a lake up to 600m deep.

The water was a brilliant blue colour.  There were still large patches of snow on the ground.  The numbers of tourists was growing by the hour, and half were from India in family groups. We left before everything ground to a halt.  By now there were long queues of cars trying to get into the park. We headed first north and then south towards Medford through tall stands of Douglas Fir and the recreation areas of Rogue River.

An avenue of Douglas Firs.

We arrived in Ashland to find a wealthy community more Telluride than Tulelake. They have put on a Shakespeare festival since 1935. A replica of the Globe Theatre had been built and other venues as well.  We had bought tickets for 'A Winters Tale' and added a preview before the show. We learnt that the play was a Romance which was a new form of story that could have a happy resolution and could jump around in time. Outside the theatre in the Green Square a large brass band entertained us especially the conductor.

Crazy Conductor.

It was a long play and had some of the full house getting restless by the end. The sets were simple but ingenious but the costumes were fabulous with strong Japanese influences.  The female characters stole the show with the men more hide-bound in impetuosity and senselessness that wreaked havoc in everyone's lives. But in the end everyone settled their differences for a quiet life. We walked back to our hotel along the route of the next day's 4th July parade.

Attractive house decorated for 4th July.

All available spaces along the sides of the road had been reserved by way of blankets, chairs and tape. This included sofas on the median strip.

Sofas on the median strip for the next days parade.