{Why Klamath Falls? Why Not?!}

Friday night, we packed up the car with Paul, Todd and Clay and headed north to Klamath Falls, Oregon. Why Klamath Falls, you ask? We asked ourselves the same thing when we pulled up to the Econolodge on the edge of town. After a 3:00 am stroll of Main Street, we counted approximately 15 “antique” shops (one of which also served smoothies—a natural combination, wouldn’t you say?), several clothing stores featuring the latest in coyote t-shirt fashions, and chances to play Keno or video poker at just about every other store. Little did we know the rest of the town would exceed all of our expectations…




The trip was full of beautiful scenery, particularly at Crater Lake National Park. The lake was formed by the collapse of a volcano in 7,700 BC and has the clearest, bluest water we’ve ever seen in person. A light hike lead us to a dock where we dangled our toes in the water (it was much too cold to get in any further) and ate a picnic lunch.



Day two we headed to the Lava Beds where we crawled our way through dark caves formed by volcanic eruptions in the 1800s. Thanks to a tip from Lisa (our friend at the Quality Inn hot tub) we hit up the Dollar Tree and stocked up on glow sticks to keep track of each other and light our way through the pitch-black tunnels. They also provided the perfect ambiance for an impromptu dance party deep inside the caves.



Wanting a way to get to know some of the locals, we decided to hit up the Blues Band and Pot-Luck BBQ at Topper’s Bar that we found on discoverklamath.com. Not feeling OK simply showing up with a bag of chips or box of cookies as our contribution, we decided to get creative despite our lack of kitchen essentials. It turns out that 1 graham cracker pie crust + 16 chocolate Snack Packs + one can of Redi-Whip = chocolate cream pie. A semi-homemade masterpiece that Sandra herself would have been proud of.




The pot-luck was the highlight of the trip. We were noticeably out of place since the group meets every week for their gathering of dinner and live blues music and rarely sees new faces (especially ones that bring “homemade” pie), but we were welcomed with open arms. The band invited us on stage to help out with a few numbers, and even brought out the tambourine, cowbell and maracas so we could play along. We were given honorary (used) Toppers Bar t-shirts for our stellar performance of “I Love Rock and Roll.”










It was sad to leave our friends behind, but we will never forget Natalie (and her cowbell lessons), Thomas (and his inappropriate compliments), Sunny (and his sweet hook-ups at Quality Inn), and Rashanana (and his nurse uniform and permanent marker tatoo)!



So, if you ever want to visit Klamath Falls (which I highly recommend), here are a few tips to remember:



1. Dynasty Chinese Restaurant is the best (or only) restaurant in town (4 out of 4 locals recommend it without being prompted).

2. Don’t take your purse with you into the lava bed caves. It turns out there are no gift shops or snack bars in the caves.

3. Quality Inn’s continental breakfast is much better than Econolodge’s (not that we tried it…).

B&E



Soundtrack from this trip: Brown Eyed Girl and I love Rock and Roll (songs we sang with the band)