I know, I know. Napa Valley and Crater Lake National Park are two very different things, but in the interest of being efficient, I’ve got to pair them here. 

From San Francisco, Andrew and I indulged ourselves with a quick trip to Yountville, in Napa Valley. The kids could have cared less about the farming industry there, and we didn’t subject any wineries to our children’s antics, but it was beautiful country to drive through and the hotel where we stayed had a great pool – the kids main qualification for fun. 

Through a friend of a friend, we found a babysitter who took our kiddos to dinner and put them to bed, while Andrew and I biked to a wine tasting at a little place called Hope & Grace. Afterwards, we enjoyed a late dinner at Bottega. 

A little bit of San Francisco hospitality followed us there; when we got to our table, we learned that our friends, the Coes, had bought us our drinks while we waited.

The food at Bottega was everything we heard it would be, and the brief step away from our kiddos allowed us to enjoy Napa Valley just enough to think about planning another trip, child-free, for an anniversary. 

The next morning, we walked to Bouchon, where the kids feasted on bread with raspberry jam, hot chocolate and quiche. They are surprising us in so many ways on this trip – they are rolling through our transitions so much better than we’d imagined, and they’re gradually becoming more flexible about everything from sleep schedules to food choices. 

We spent the day driving to Medford, OR and, despite what I just wrote, Peter, exhausted from all our Northern California sightseeing, completely lost it over Trader Joe’s stickers. Or, more specifically, that I didn’t get him TJ’s stickers when I’d run in for just one item. The night deteriorated from there and included a small meltdown of my own. 

But after a 9 o’clock bedtime for everyone, we started fresh the next day and headed to Crater Lake. 

There are no words suitable to describe the phenomen that is Crater Lake – our country’s deepest, clearest lake, and one that began forming almost 8,000 years ago when Mount Mazama erupted so violently that it collapsed on itself, forming the caldera that now holds 4.6 trillion gallons of water. 

The reason it is so bizarrely, beautifully blue is that the water, formed by rain and snow melt, is almost completely pure and in its clarity, reflects the color of a sapphire in sunlight. 

Claire, Elizabeth and Peter, who easily could have been “over” nature scenes by now, were just as awed by Crater Lake as we were. 

After staring at the lake for half an hour or so, we warmed up and ate a wonderful lunch at the National Park’s historic hotel before driving an hour and a half north to Bend, Oregon, where we would spend one night. 

There, we found a beautiful little park along the Deschutes River and walked until we found a playground. The kids have never been so excited to see slides and swings – something that sent a message to Andrew and me. 

They need more play time and slightly less sightseeing, and we are going to try to accommodate that as much as possible as we head north. 

Bend is a town that we wished we’d had more time for. Its quaint city center is packed with cute shops, great restaurants and more than a few famed Oregon breweries. 

We had dinner that night at Deschutes Brewery, which had a surprisingly awesome kids’ menu, and offered a beer selection that made one guy in our family very, very happy. 

The next morning, after breakfast, we drove through some beautiful country to Portland, with a stop near the top of Mount Hood, at historic Timberine Lodge. We would rank it as one of the most beautiful drives we have encountered so far, and that, along with our time in Portland, will be in the next installment of Bessie Breaks Away.