Hi everyone!
I hope you had a nice Spring Break. Over Spring Break, I went to many attractions around Oregon and had lots of fun. We went to to Mt. Hood and played with snow, went to Kah-Nee-tah, went to Bend, explored Crater Lake and looked at the beautiful water, enjoyed the water slide and pool in our hotel at Medford, in Medford tasted world famous cheese from Rogue Creamery and lastly went to the Oregon Caves!
This trip took two long days of driving, exploring and walking. Our first stop was Mt. Hood. Mt. Hood is a mountain full of fun and activities. There are different lodges on the snow where you can relax by the fire and play some fun games like shuffle board and ping pong. A great lodge I recommend is the Timber Line Lodge. After playing in the snow for a while, we went inside to relax in the Timber Line Lodge.
At the lodge, we warmed up our feet and went to a game room. In the room we learned how to play a game called shuffle board. The objective of the game is to get 15 points as fast as possible. You can play this game with as many people as you want as long as everyone is distributed as equally as possible in two teams. Each team gets 4 disks. You are supposed to slide the disks along the board all the way to one of the zones on the other side. The zones include 1, 2, 3 and 4. Ideally every shot you should go for the 4th zone. For each of the zones you get points. If you don't get the disk in a zone or in the side gutter area you get 0 points and you slide your next disk. If your disk lands in the first zone, you get 1 point. For the second, you get 2. For the third, you get 3 and lastly for the fourth you get 4. After playing the fun game of shuffle board for a while, we went back to the snow and in our car for our next quick stop at Kah-Nee-Tah.
Once we reached Kah-Nee-Tah, we explored some of the teepees and different activities there. At Kahneetah, you can camp there and have fun at their fun water slide and pool. We liked it a lot so we decided we would come there again for a full trip.
On the way to Medford where our hotel was, we visited Bend, Oregon. In Bend we went to The Lava River caves. The caves were lava tubes that you could hike through. Once we arrived, we couldn't do the hike in the caves because it was closed for bat hibernation. We were sad that we couldn't go in the caves but soon we found a short hike to nice scenic views looking at North Sister Mt, South Sister Mt and Mt. Bachelor.
Our next stop was at Crater Lake. Crater Lake is a famous lake with an island called Wizard Island inside. Crater Lake was a bit chilly and had lots of snow there. On the way there, we found a view point made by fossilized steam! It had deep cuts and cool formations. At Crater Lake, we looked at the beautiful water with the reflection in it. We also saw Phantom ship another Island in the lake. Crater Lake is also known for a 30 feet tall stump floating inside called "The old man of the lake".
After that, we went to our hotel in Medford, Oregon. The hotel we visited was called Super 8. Super 8 has an indoor swimming pool that we were going to swim in. Once we arrived at the hotel we unloaded our stuff into the room. Then, we went to the pool. The pool had a water slide that I played on as well as a hot tub for relaxing. Then, we slept.
The next day, before we went to the Oregon a Caves, we explored some of the tourist attractions in Medford such as Rogue Creamery. Rogue Creamery was a little shop that made different cheese treats. Their cheese was so good that they have an award for best cheese. Their famous blue cheese was made by making cheese and then making holes in it for oxygen and then leaving it in a preserved cave for a year. The temperature in the cave was habitable for blue mold so it grew in the cheese holes.
Our next stop was at Oregon Caves. The Oregon Caves were discovered by Elijah Davidson in the late 1800s. After many years it was established and it became a national monument. To explore the Oregon Caves you have to go on a tour. For us, the tour started a couple hours after we arrived. Meanwhile, I did a fun booklet called the Junior Ranger program. Once I completed the steps to become a Junior Ranger, a real ranger gave me a shiny badge and a cool certificate that announced me as an official Junior Ranger!
Another thing that we did before we went on the cave tour was a hike. The hike was called Cliff nature trail. The trail was only .8 miles but very cool with beautiful scenic view points. On one you could see all the Siskiyou mountains! There were also cool rocks with calcite bumps on them. I collected one that I added to my huge collection.
Once our tour started, we entered the caves. We saw some marble walls and weird black lines along it. We learned from the guide that the black streaks came from people touching the wall. When the oils on our hands touched the marble it would darken the marble. Later in the cave we started seeing some cool formations such as stalactite, stalagmite, soda straws, popcorn, bacon and columns.
Stalactite are calcite leaking through the top of the ceiling. When this happens, the calcite piles up and forms an icicle shape. Stalagmite are the same thing except they come from the ground! A column appears when a stalactite and a stalagmite combine to create a vertical formation. Soda straws are stalagmite but hollow so they are kind of white. Popcorn is bumps in the marble that looks like popcorn. Bacon is strips of marble with stripes that look like bacon.
There are 5 different rooms in the cave and I liked the ghost room the most. The ghost room was cold and lower in elevation than all the other rooms. It had white soda straws and stalactite hanging from the ceiling that kind of looked like ghosts. Spooky right? Another room that I enjoyed had cool jelly fish shaped flowstone that I called the Jellyfish room.
Overall, my spring break is definitely something that I will remember. I really enjoyed the Oregon Caves and swimming in our hotel. We went to to Mt. Hood, Kah-Nee-tah, Bend, explored Crater Lake and looked at the beautiful water, swam in our hotel at Medford, tasted yummy cheese from Rogue Creamery and lastly explored the caverns of Oregon Caves!
I hope you had a nice Spring Break. Over Spring Break, I went to many attractions around Oregon and had lots of fun. We went to to Mt. Hood and played with snow, went to Kah-Nee-tah, went to Bend, explored Crater Lake and looked at the beautiful water, enjoyed the water slide and pool in our hotel at Medford, in Medford tasted world famous cheese from Rogue Creamery and lastly went to the Oregon Caves!
At the lodge, we warmed up our feet and went to a game room. In the room we learned how to play a game called shuffle board. The objective of the game is to get 15 points as fast as possible. You can play this game with as many people as you want as long as everyone is distributed as equally as possible in two teams. Each team gets 4 disks. You are supposed to slide the disks along the board all the way to one of the zones on the other side. The zones include 1, 2, 3 and 4. Ideally every shot you should go for the 4th zone. For each of the zones you get points. If you don't get the disk in a zone or in the side gutter area you get 0 points and you slide your next disk. If your disk lands in the first zone, you get 1 point. For the second, you get 2. For the third, you get 3 and lastly for the fourth you get 4. After playing the fun game of shuffle board for a while, we went back to the snow and in our car for our next quick stop at Kah-Nee-Tah.Once we reached Kah-Nee-Tah, we explored some of the teepees and different activities there. At Kahneetah, you can camp there and have fun at their fun water slide and pool. We liked it a lot so we decided we would come there again for a full trip.
On the way to Medford where our hotel was, we visited Bend, Oregon. In Bend we went to The Lava River caves. The caves were lava tubes that you could hike through. Once we arrived, we couldn't do the hike in the caves because it was closed for bat hibernation. We were sad that we couldn't go in the caves but soon we found a short hike to nice scenic views looking at North Sister Mt, South Sister Mt and Mt. Bachelor.
The next day, before we went to the Oregon a Caves, we explored some of the tourist attractions in Medford such as Rogue Creamery. Rogue Creamery was a little shop that made different cheese treats. Their cheese was so good that they have an award for best cheese. Their famous blue cheese was made by making cheese and then making holes in it for oxygen and then leaving it in a preserved cave for a year. The temperature in the cave was habitable for blue mold so it grew in the cheese holes.
Our next stop was at Oregon Caves. The Oregon Caves were discovered by Elijah Davidson in the late 1800s. After many years it was established and it became a national monument. To explore the Oregon Caves you have to go on a tour. For us, the tour started a couple hours after we arrived. Meanwhile, I did a fun booklet called the Junior Ranger program. Once I completed the steps to become a Junior Ranger, a real ranger gave me a shiny badge and a cool certificate that announced me as an official Junior Ranger!Another thing that we did before we went on the cave tour was a hike. The hike was called Cliff nature trail. The trail was only .8 miles but very cool with beautiful scenic view points. On one you could see all the Siskiyou mountains! There were also cool rocks with calcite bumps on them. I collected one that I added to my huge collection.
Once our tour started, we entered the caves. We saw some marble walls and weird black lines along it. We learned from the guide that the black streaks came from people touching the wall. When the oils on our hands touched the marble it would darken the marble. Later in the cave we started seeing some cool formations such as stalactite, stalagmite, soda straws, popcorn, bacon and columns.Stalactite are calcite leaking through the top of the ceiling. When this happens, the calcite piles up and forms an icicle shape. Stalagmite are the same thing except they come from the ground! A column appears when a stalactite and a stalagmite combine to create a vertical formation. Soda straws are stalagmite but hollow so they are kind of white. Popcorn is bumps in the marble that looks like popcorn. Bacon is strips of marble with stripes that look like bacon.
There are 5 different rooms in the cave and I liked the ghost room the most. The ghost room was cold and lower in elevation than all the other rooms. It had white soda straws and stalactite hanging from the ceiling that kind of looked like ghosts. Spooky right? Another room that I enjoyed had cool jelly fish shaped flowstone that I called the Jellyfish room.Overall, my spring break is definitely something that I will remember. I really enjoyed the Oregon Caves and swimming in our hotel. We went to to Mt. Hood, Kah-Nee-tah, Bend, explored Crater Lake and looked at the beautiful water, swam in our hotel at Medford, tasted yummy cheese from Rogue Creamery and lastly explored the caverns of Oregon Caves!
Oregon Caves & Crater Lake are so cool! Good blog.
ReplyDelete