Roadtrippin'

Out of pre-loaded posts for ye. Also out of energy. But here's a few outtakes to tide ye over 'til I can coherently write something about our adventures. Which may not be for several days - I expect to be comatose upon arriving home.

Additionally, I'm not certain the cat will allow me to live after abandoning her for so long.

Mah first experience with Mt. Mazama ash:

Near Crescent Cutoff on Hwy. 58. The stuff's full of little pieces of pumice. Little, that is, until you consider how far they were hurled by the mountain, which was probably 20-30 miles away as the crow flies. Pumice shouldn't fly that far. The fact that it did should tell you something that'll keep you awake at night.

And Mt. Mazama its own self.

There was an in-joke at the bookstore I worked at. We had an inordinate number of customers come in and describe what they were looking for thusly: "I need this book, I don't remember the title or the author or what it's about, but it's this big and it's blue." That's about what it's like looking down on Crater Lake for the first time. For just a moment, you forget the context of what you're looking at. All you can think is, "Holy shit, it's this big and it's blue!" I have to go to Home Depot when I get back and get those little paint sample cards, so I can match up the color of the lake. It's so blue that I've seen cobalt blue paint that didn't look quite so intense. The color shifts with every change in light and perspective, but it never stops being an overwhelming, brilliant blue.

And, finally, moi at Fort Rock:

Here's what you need to know about it, and what we'll go in to in more detail later on: this is a bloody volcano that erupted under a Pleistocene lake. Under the lake. That's why it's hollow.

If that isn't weird geology, there's no such thing as weird geology.

Tomorrow, it's off to Newberry and McKenzie Pass, and then back to Corvallis. If I'm lucky, we'll make it home to Seattle that night, because as incredible as all the geology's been, I miss mah kitteh. And I'll need about ten years to sort through all the photos.

You're in for treats, my darlings. Stay tuned...