But it didn't stick because as we were driving into Crater Lake National Park I was again thinking, "Meh." After all, it's just a big hole in the ground that filled with water. What's the big deal? Once again, it only took a moment to realize I was wrong.

The first thing that struck me was the blue. Insane blue unlike anything I've seen outside Photoshop. It's like someone took the saturation control and turned it up to 11.

Next came the precipitous drop to the water. Where we stood it was about 850 feet straight down. The highest point on the rim is 1,978 feet above the surface. To be honest, the difference between 1,000 and 2,000 feet wasn't that important. A fall would be... bad.

From where we stood on Merriam Point near North Junction we could see pretty much the whole lake, but we didn't know which parts were important. Except Wizard Island, of course. The only real island is easy to spot and well known. We'd get to know all the features of the lake and shore the next day, but for those first moments standing on the rim we just marveled at what lay before us.

We didn't spend the whole day there, though. We stopped at the Visitor Center to get our Junior Ranger books, planned climbs of a number of peaks in the Park (all dashed because snow closed the roads and trails), and followed the short Godfrey Glen trail along Munson Creek. We ended at the Mazama Village Cabins that would be our base for the next few days.

I was excited for the adventures we had planned over the next few days and fell asleep still seeing the deepest, richest blue of my life. Just imagine if we got to go down to the Lake itself or to Wizard Island. How amazing would that be? Why... that would be amazing indeed. (This is called foreshadowing.)