Vacation - Breakfast With a View

So I have now posted some of the pictures I took on the trip and talked very little about our dining experiences. How rude of me! Crater Lake Lodge is a lovely place and with no TV, computers or telephones it really allows you to unplug and relax. The rooms are really nicely furnished in a craftsman style and the public areas are welcoming and relaxing. In my last post I talked a bit about the Great Hall which is where you can enjoy pre-dinner cocktails and light appetizers or dessert afterwards. They have numerous options of sitting areas from couches to rocking chairs by the fireplace or tables and chairs to play games or just chat. We tried several different options during the evening as you saw in the last post.

Since we had a late lunch at Beckie's Cafe, we opted for 7pm reservations. Once seated you could see that it was not packed, but still busy. Got to chat with a lovely couple from Portland at the next table and found out it was their anniversary and in sharing that we were there for Mom's birthday and Mother's Day it just made for a festive conversation. We took time out to order and Mom started with French Onion Soup which she happily pronounced as the best she has ever had. She also decided to order the Vegetable Fettuccini. I confirmed with her that it was a tomato based dish and she agreed. Likely due to all the excitement, it proved not to be what she wanted and would have preferred the traditional Fettuccini Afredo, but did say it was fun to try something different. Afterwards, I made it up by ordering the Very Berry Crisp that had three kinds of berries in it and she just loved it and while planning only a bite or two did enjoy a bit more which was fine as I am just not a berry dessert kind of guy unless they are fresh with yogurt!

For my dinner I started off with the Rogue Garden Salad which was a wedge of iceberg lettuce, tomato and sweet onion relish, candied walnuts with a Bleu cheese dressing. Can you say YUM! Then a cup of the Northwest Clam Chowder and they add smoked bacon and thyme to it and it was ok, but sadly a tad too much salt for my taste. Main course was Baked Oregon Bleu Cheese Halibut. Yes, Bleu cheese was the theme for the evening. It was prepared with sauteed shallots with a Bleu cheese melt down (not quite sure what that was?). A nice wild rice pilaf and fresh vegetables completed the plate. Filling but not overwhelming.

All too soon we were asleep and dawn arrived with lots of chirping birds and a lot of light due to the reflection off the snow. We were up and dressed by 7am and I took Mom on a bit of a tour of the Lodge. We arrived at the dining room just as breakfast was getting going and got a seat by the windows. As you can see by these pictures:

You can see why we opted for an indoor table since the outdoors was still a bit on the chilly side. Yes, you are looking at icicles on the rocker on the lower picture! It is not an illusion. But the sun was coming out and melting all the slick walkways that had developed overnight. This was a good thing as we delayed our departure to allow for the melt to occur. At breakfast we were served by the gentleman who was busing the dining room the night before. Seems peoples schedules are pretty full and a crew that is seasonal so they float around a lot of the national parks in the country. Bill, our server was from Maryland. It was his 2nd season at the Lodge and he was working in the Dining Room with his girlfriend. They had just arrived from working the winter at Death Valley. He was quite a good server and our coffee cups never ran dry. Mom decided to have the Stuffed French Toast which was stuffed with Marionberry Cream Cheese and it was a nice sized portion, nothing over the top. I had the Venison Hash and Eggs. I love scrambled eggs and you could so tell these were fresh eggs and not a mix. The Hash was on the salty side like the chowder the night before, but hey, it was their first week up and going again so I was not evil, but opted for understanding.

After breakfast we went back to the room and read a while before heading home. It was weird in that the drive home was relaxing and had little traffic until we got to Medford, but oh the traffic heading the other direction was insane! It was Friday of Memorial Day Weekend and a lot of people were getting an early start.

Once home we got settled and played some dominoes. Mom won the first game and we got to enjoy a nap plus just relaxing and taking time to chat and read and kick back knowing we had a wonderful adventure.