Places You Can NOT Appreciate Without Seeing Them In Person?

explanade said:
Where do you stay when you visit Crater Lake?

Swiss Alps will have a lot of lodging options, with views of the mountains without venturing far.

Crater Lake, like other US National Parks, seems to have limited lodging and to find a reasonable accommodation, you might have to drive an hour away.
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Diamond lake Resort is nearby, and it has that vibe of the resort in Dirty Dancing, at least to me.
Diamond Lake Resort | Oregon's Gem of the Cascades
I have not stayed there myself but we pass through there now and again. It is one of our favorite drives.
The Oregon Cascades are thick there, you are in the high country for miles and miles after you leave Crater Lake and head West on the North Umpqua highway. Check out colliding rivers at Glide.
Get some Umpqua ice cream :)

For me it is not a particular place, but go find a dark spot in high country and really see the stars. Get far away from cities and towns and even farms if you can, to where the Milky Way looks like a stripe of paint across the sky.
 
isisdave said:
Most any 500-year-old European cathedral or major church, particularly the inside. Even more so to me as an engineer.

Newgrange. The ancient Irish gold in the National Museum in Dublin. The Book of Kells.

Things I got to touch in the '70s that you can't touch any more: The Rosetta Stone, and Stonehenge.

Volcanoes: standing next to a steamy vent on Aetna, and thinking, "y'know, this thing still goes off with very little warning." Volcanoes NP on the big island when there's good bubbling going on. Haleakala, especially at sunrise.
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Something pretty cool is the view from the Washington Monument. Of course, Washington DC is not to be missed. Unfortunately, you can no longer climb to the top of the Washington monument. You must take the elevator. I climbed the monument at age 17 and 22. (Full disclsoure: I wouldn't try it now even if it were allowed, though YMMV.)
 
skyking1 said:
Diamond lake Resort is nearby, and it has that vibe of the resort in Dirty Dancing, at least to me.
Diamond Lake Resort | Oregon's Gem of the Cascades
I have not stayed there myself but we pass through there now and again. It is one of our favorite drives.
The Oregon Cascades are thick there, you are in the high country for miles and miles after you leave Crater Lake and head West on the North Umpqua highway. Check out colliding rivers at Glide.
Get some Umpqua ice cream :)

For me it is not a particular place, but go find a dark spot in high country and really see the stars. Get far away from cities and towns and even farms if you can, to where the Milky Way looks like a stripe of paint across the sky.
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Dean56 said:
I stayed in Bend, OR when I visited Crater Lake.
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I just checked the Crater Lake Lodge. Their website booking engine returns results for some cabins, not the lodge itself.

Looks like some of the trails around the lake can really be taxing, not just long but up and down. So I'd probably want to stay nearby, not long drives before or after long hikes.

There's one to a mountain peak to the east of the Lodge, Garfield Peak, which is not far but a climb and the hike is listed as "Strenuous."

So combining something like that with a 2 hour drive each way doesn't sound appealing.
 
I'm sure plenty of people do it, visit the park while staying a long drive away.

There are pictures of people on boats full of people and a lot of people at the various overlooks.

It would be over a 500 mile drive for me just to reach Bend, almost 9 hours, or about 8 hours to go directly to Crater Lake. Or over 4 hours from Portland, 2.5 hours from Eugene.

Hmm, Oregon tourism bureau runs commercials so I better research some other places to see up there.

As spectacular as Crater Lake appears, it would be a long way just to go see one place.
 
We did a photography workshop at Crater Lake and the instructor pointed us to book at a hotel about 45 minutes away.
 
RetiredHappy said:
We did a photography workshop at Crater Lake and the instructor pointed us to book at a hotel about 45 minutes away.
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Did it involve long hikes to spots to take photos?

Also I see that there are overlooks on the west, south and east sides of the lakes but those are like 20 miles apart so you'd have to drive them, not to mention the boat tours which seem to take you to that large island.
 
Take the tour boat to Wizard Island in the lake and walk up the little crater. The color of the water abruptly changes from light blue to cobalt as the boat moves to much deeper waters.
 
explanade said:
Did it involve long hikes to spots to take photos?

Also I see that there are overlooks on the west, south and east sides of the lakes but those are like 20 miles apart so you'd have to drive them, not to mention the boat tours which seem to take you to that large island.
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I would say short hikes, not long hikes, but in our cars where we drove from spot to spot.
 
Another one I don't recall being mentioned here, triggered by the poster that mentioned Haleakala at sunrise...going to the summit of the big island's Mauna Kea. You can go either on your own or with a tour. We opted for the late afternoon tour. A very small group. Parkas, gloves and a box lunch were provided. In July, temps at the top are freezing cold. We ate our box lunches at the visitor center at 9,000 feet to become acclimated to the elevation. At 14,000 feet, you are above the clouds which is a sight to behold. You couldn't go into the observatory and they kicked you off the mountain at nightfall.

Back down at 9,000 feet, the guide set up powerful telescopes. Incredible views of the Milky Way, a star being born, a star dying and many other sights. If we ever get back to the big island, this tour is again on our itinerary.
 
We definitely enjoyed the Haleakala sunrise despite it being 33 degrees with winds and some grit blown around. We did it to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Really cool there was an otherwise quiet wedding at sunrise with a Hawaiian priest blowing the conch shell. Great atmosphere.
 
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Fort Lee, New Jersey

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An active Volcano in Iceland erupted while we were there, so we booked a Helicoptor tour. That and walking on a Glacier in Alaska are the two I have. Both trips in 2024.

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