Hi! I've been quiet because I've been busy—first, appearing at WesterCon 69 in Portland, and then driving cross-country down through Oregon and into California. As you might imagine, data is patchy (including broadband at some of the motels) and so is time for blogging.
Also, been busy with stuff like this:
But all good things come to an end, and I'm arriving in San Francisco on Saturday. And I have some public events in the Bay Area that you might like to come to.
On Saturday the 9th I'll be appearing at Writers with Drinks in San Francisco at The Make Out Room, 3225 22nd St., on at 7:30pm (doors open 6:30pm).
On Sunday the 10th I'll be reading and signing at Borderlands Books, at 866 Valencia Street, from 3:00pm.
And on Friday the 15th I'm doing a reading and signing at Copperfield's Books (140 Kentucky St, Petaluma, CA 94952) from 7pm.
Blogging (by me, at any rate) will be erratic until I get home on the 21st—but stay tuned, I have something coming up.
Crater Lake. On my to-visit list...
Right now is peak season. If you go at peak season, get there early! By lunchtime there's a half-hour tailback at the park service ticket checkpoint and all the car parks are totally full. Also, beware of the crumbling road edges (over cliffs, at that!) and bear in mind that the local food and amenities are what you'd expect for an over-priced tourist trap so remote that the staff live in dormitories local to the site. (Sandwiches for $9.50, sodas for $3, no phone signal, wifi available for a price.) Only the drinking water refills are free, so pack accordingly.
If you go in winter, take a snowmobile or skis and the sort of kit you'd want to have with you in a blizzard emergency. There was still snow on the ground in July.
Unmissable, all the same.
You can get there pretty much anytime of year, but this is peak and wonderful during peak. Winter is more complicated to get to, and routes are limited. You can drive in later than you'd think. Best time I went was December with 12 foot drifts of snow.
Charlie if you're still in Southern Oregon, I got recommendations for food in Roseburg, Grants Pass and Ashland. (also avoid medford). Not to mention Cave Junction and the Oregon caves.
Per our discussion in Bend, if you'd like to come down to the Bay Area Science Fiction Association weekly gathering in Milpitas (south of Fremont) on Monday, July 11, let me know and we can make arrangements for the logistics. If you can get to a BART station, you can ride it to Fremont, where I or another member can drive you to and from the meeting. It's a very low-key gathering; more like a continuation of a convention than anything else, except for the Recreational Parliamentary Procedure.
It may be too late and/or not on your route, but if you're going down the Oregon coast on US 101 (recommended), there's quite a nice bookstore in Gold Beach. Not Powell's, but better than you'd expect and worth a visit.
http://www.oregoncoastbooks.com/
(We're already in northern California.)
On reflection, I think I'm going to be too dead on Monday to cram in an extra appearance; I've got readings the two previous days, and fannish gatherings are work, after a fashion, if they're not with people I see every week. (Also: much travel, very fatigued.)
The Portland to SF drive is amazing even if you take the 5. I love Oregon
That photo is more understandable when you see it on a large enough screen to realise that the white bits are snow, not waterfalls!
Crater Lake is famously scenic even for the Pacific Northwest, which is richly gifted with such views. I've lived in Oregon a long time and I've still never seen the Old Man of the Lake with my own eyes...
You know Charlie is lucky he missed an unseasonable snowfall by only a day or two. Those roads are no joke when it's snowing
Hello, Charlie! I hope you're enjoying your "working vacation", if it can be called that.
It will be interesting to eventually read your thoughts on your country's unexpectedly hasty prime minister replacement. I believe it was just last week when September or October was the time frame for the replacement; now it's Wednesday. It's possible the Brexit button could be pushed while you're in a California pub! Who'd a thunk it when you left!
Think they'll let you back in? :)
Mike
I rather suspect a good chunk of the UK would rather be having a working vacation abroad somewhere else than in the strange parallel universe the UK has fallen into for the last 2 weeks.
Oh, blast it! I knew you were coming to the bay area at some point, but I missed just when! The SF appearances would have been bearable to get into the city to meet you, but Petaluma is madness given form of a Google Maps route. Sadness! but entirely my fault. Hopefully I can get a chance another time.
I visited Crater Lake whilst on holiday in Oregon with my then girlfriend, now wife, oh, ten years ago.
Perhaps one of the most exciting landscapes I've ever visited. Genuinely breath-taking. Ever since I've wanted to live on the edge of a large crater.
Nearby is a small volcanic flow that was used by the Apollo astronauts as a training ground for learning to move around on the Moon - that was pretty cool too.
But not as cool as an 8,000 foot mountain with a 2,000 foot deep lake in the middle in so large that you could drown Swindon.