Southern Oregon Local Delicacies

We found a couple of local delicacies in Southern Oregon.  This first used what is a very popular item in the this region – tater tots.  Why are tater tots so popular here?  Well, it seem tater tots were invented in the 1950s in Oregon.  A true American entrepreneur was looking for how the scraps from making French Fires could be used instead of being thrown away and came up with the tater tot.  And from this invention came a company -- Ore-Ida.  Tater tots seem to be on every menu around these parts but our local delicacy was a very creative use of them.  It was a plate of nachos.  But instead of a base of tortilla chips, this dish used tater tots.  And instead of ground beef, these nachos used pulled pork.  They weren’t called nachos, though; the name of this dish was ………. Totchos.

Our second local delicacy was a grilled cheese sandwich.  So, how can a grilled cheese sandwich be a local delicacy?  Well, this was not your ordinary grilled cheese.  We went to the Rogue Creamery in the town of Central Point, Oregon.  They have been making cheese here since the 1930s.  Their specialty is blue cheese.  We sampled several different blue cheeses they make.  As it was lunch time, the only thing on the menu in this cheese store was a grilled cheese sandwich. This one was made with mild cheddar and blue cheese with the bread also drizzled with honey and then grilled in a Panini press.  It was very tasty and without a doubt the most unique grilled cheese we ever have eaten.

Crater Lake

Gary has been saying that he has wanted to see Crater Lake ever since he knew there was a Crater Lake.  Even with that much anticipation, Crater Lake still overachieved.  It is simply impossible to describe how blue this lake is.

So how was Crater Lake formed?  About 7,700 hundred years ago there was a huge mountain standing here, probably over 12,000 feet high, or 6,000 feet higher than the level of the present lake.  A giant pool of magma bubbled up underneath the mountain.  It was not only venting out the top but also all around the walls of the mountain.  Then there was an explosion estimated to have been 40 times greater than the 1980 explosion at Mount St Helens.  The explosion blew out the top and through all the many vents down the mountain walls.  The top of the mountain both exploded and collapsed back into the earth leaving behind a giant hole or caldera.  Further flows of Magma sealed the floor of the caldera and also created what now is the island that you see in the pictures.  Over the next several thousands of years the caldera filled with water from rainfalls and snow melt and made Crater Lake.

So why is Crater Lake so blue?  One, the lake is very deep with its deepest point being nearly 2,000 feet below the surface.  It is the deepest lake the United States.  Two, the water is very clean and clear.  There is no stream carrying sediment and pollutants into the Lake.  It is all rain water and snow melt.  The deep, clean, and clear water reflects back the blue light spectrum the way no other lake can.

Living Memorial Sculpture Garden

About 10 miles outside Weed, California with the backdrop of Mt Shasta is The Living Memorial Sculpture Garden.  It was founded by a group of veterans and its sculptor was a Sergeant in the Marine Corps during the Viet Nam War.

 

Mount Shasta

This is one spectacular volcanic peak.  We could catch glimpses of it 80 miles away when we were are Lassen Peak but it came into ever sharper focus as we traveled toward it.  We take pictures at times through the windshield of the motor home – often State border signs and such – but this had to be one of the most awesome sights we ever snapped through the windshield.

 

What makes this mountain so majestic beyond its over 14,000 foot height is the fact that it essentially stands alone, unconnected to any other nearby mountains.  There is another major crater on the other side from the view above and as shown below along with a shot from the town of Weed (nice backdrop for a town) and a couple other shots as well.

This volcanic peak last blew about 200 years ago.  We read that there is an active sulfur steam vent near the top of the mountain indicating it is still very potentially active.

Visiting Our Future 51st State?

Nope, we didn’t suddenly jump a flight to Puerto Rico.  We are in an area of Northern California that along with part of Southern Oregon that some advocate should secede from their present States and become a new State of Jefferson, our 51st State.  We are camped in the town of Weed (they have a lot of fun with that name here) in Siskiyou County, California.  Before you think that this concept of a new State is just the product of too much smoking of the wacky tobacky, THIS COUNTY IS VOTING THIS WEEK ON A FIRST STEP TOWARD FUTURE STATEHOOD.

You see many State of Jefferson signs around this area.  There is even a State Seal which is also used on the State Flag.  And what are the two X’s?  They represent the double cross this area reportedly feels from the State Capitals of Sacramento and Salem.

The upcoming vote is to create the Republic Jefferson Territory that follows the present borders of Siskiyou County.  After other counties, more or less along the boundaries of the proposed State do the same, they will petition the States of California and Oregon for permission to secede and they will petition the US Congress and the President for approval to become the 51st State.

So just what is the beef in this region?  It seems to vary greatly depending on who you talk to.  Some say it is about local control of Government, others say it is too much tax dollars sent to Sacramento and Salem and not enough services returned. Others say it’s too much environmentalism, others say it is about regaining ownership and control of what are now Federal lands in the region, and others say it is about ownership and control of water.  It seems that the State of Jefferson is whatever is in the minds of its beholders,

Lassen Volcanic National Park

As we rolled north out of Carson City through Reno and then back into Northern California, we also passed the northern end of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and into the southern end of the Cascade Range of mountains.  The Sierras were created largely by the shifting of the earth’s plates while the Cascades are know for their volcanic peaks.  Most people remember the eruption of Mt Saint Helens in 1980, but that was not the only “recent” volcanic eruption in the Cascade Range.  Lassen Peak also erupted less than 100 years ago, 99 years ago in May to be exact.

We took a picture of a story board in the Park that showed a picture taken of the major eruption of Lassen Peak three days after the initial eruption in 1915.  This eruption also set off avalanches that carried “hot rocks” as shown below right five miles from the peak and beyond.

As we drove up the Park road, we eventually reached those snow capped areas of the mountains.  And lest you think these volcanic peaks are done erupting, also shown is a cauldron of boiling mud and sulfur that demonstrates this area still is very alive and potentially dangerous.

 

And it was really nice to have a campground with trees.  It has been quite a long time.  But a campsite like this one makes the wait worthwhile.  Even Alley Cat loved this park.  She was out every day for a walk, chasing the ducks and birds of the campground all over the place.

Carson City, Nevada

We haven’t yet written about the actual city we were camped in – Carson City.  It has two big claims to fame. One, it was named after mountain man Kit Carson, and two, it is the capital of the State of Nevada.

Carson City has been the capital of Nevada since its statehood in 1864

 

 

 

Over the holiday weekend we drove all of about a mile to park and stroll the the capitol grounds.  The state capitol building was completed in 1871. It is no longer used for meetings of the state assembly and senate; they are now housed in a separate modern building on the same grounds.  The Nevada Supreme Court Building is also on the same grounds.  The Governor’s Mansion is located a few blocks away.

On Memorial Day, we also happened upon a couple monuments, one to Nevada Veterans and the second to the USS Nevada, a battleship that was torpedoed and bombed by Japanese war planes in Pearl Harbor.

And just a couple blocks down the street from the capitol was this monument to the biggest single industry of the State of Nevada – casino gambling..