Some things are almost too good

Most of us have aspirations to see certain places and things in the world before we die, and we only hope if the place or thing actually manifests itself for us, that we will not be disappointed because it will turn out to be less than we had hoped for.

But, to balance such possible disappointments, there are also those situations in which the place or thing turns out to be as good or better than we had hoped it might be. Those are nice moments. I've had some of those. I've had visitations that turned out to be not only as good as I anticipated, but actually even better.

They include:

* The awe-inspiring Na Pali on the Island of Kauai.

* Vienna -- any aspect of Vienna.

* The Colosseum in Rome

* The tropical South Pacific.

* Michelangelo's 'David'.

Among others.

And now, I have just had another -- which is why I haven't been around for a few days. No internet connection where I was.

My other was this: Crater Lake in Southern Oregon.

For years, driving up Interstate 5 on a number of occasions I had thought, we really should take the dogleg up to Crater Lake since everybody says it is so incredible. But, you know, time was pressing, and it's a hell of a long way out of the way, so I never go around to it. But, this time we were determined. And, my word, but it was worth it. It is truly quite awe-inspiring. Yes, there are the superlatives, such as with an average depth of nearly 2,000 feet it is the deepest lake in the US and the sixth deepest in the world. It has a blue hue that is almost orgasmic (that is, if a blue hue can be orgasmic -- maybe it can. We all have our orgasmic things, after all), and it is located in a fabulous national park that boasts other wonders, such as the amazing canyon pictured above.

Anyway, it did take us a while to get there, We took some rather precipitous roads and the lake sits at a very high elevation. More about that later. Anyone reading this from, say, Denver can ignore my elevation comments. And get there we did. We were both quite enraptured by it all.

My only glitch was that I am acrophobic, as I have mentioned before. And, Crater Lake, since it is in a volcanic crater, lies below some amazingly terrifying precipices, all the way around. Needless to say, I didn't walk to the edge. If I got too close I got just a tad weak-kneed and sweaty. But, it didn't detract from my overall experience at all. I just didn't stand quite as close to the edge as non-acrophobic Wendy did.

Otherwise, our stay in the area was lovely. We stayed in the tiny, tiny town of Fort Klamath, just above the headwaters of Klamath Lake, in a lovely little resort on a pretty stream (as shown). That countryside around Fort Klamath is splendidly pastoral with huge cattle ranches. And it is dead flat. Idyllic, to be sure. But, Wendy and I both noticed that we felt chronically headachy and a bit queasy in the stomach. I mentioned this to the owner of the resort, and his response was simple: "It's the altitude," he said. How can that be?, I thought. We came down out of the hills around Crater Lake to this lovely flat land. He explained. The lovely flat land is a very long way from sea level (which I, in my ignorance, had assumed), but is actually a huge alpine meadow sitting atop a flat-top mountain. Our altitude was 4,100 feet. Aha! A touch of altitude sickness.

Anyway, we got over it, and all I can say is if you want a unique adventure, I will extoll the virtues of Crater Lake and the area.

Otherwise, happy to be connected again. I missed you people. And, I'll visit your individual blogs tomorrow.