Crater Lake Institute receives all sorts of memorabilia from family visits or the CCC units that worked there. This one is especially nice for the quality of the surviving scrapbooks of two visits, one in 1958 and the second in 1964. The bear poster was a handout at the park gate.

This from their daughter: Their names were Earl and Alice (Robin) Eidson. They met at Fresno State College, where Earl was attending on the GI Bill after WWII – he was in the 86th Infantry Division, active in both theatres.  She was born in Great Falls, Montana but the family moved when her father got a position as a flight instructor in Tulare, CA. They were married after my mom finished college in 1951 in Fresno, and they moved to Salinas, CA where Dad first taught math and history at junior high, then math at high school.

He stayed in the reserves as a sergeant major until Fort Ord retired his unit, which I mention only because I’m sure you can imagine what it was like to get in trouble with your father the retired Sergeant Major/math teacher: the whole neighborhood knew. The first time they went to Crater Lake – the 1953 trip – was part of a trip that took them to Victoria, Canada and then heading home. It was Crater Lake, Olympia, Salem, and Columbia River Gorge, Vancouver and Victoria.

[Crater Lake Institute has this 1952 edition in their collection. See it here]

My dad’s mom was a native Californian, and so he had some 24 great aunts and uncles in California. My great grandfather was a cattle rancher and inspector who, among other things, worked on the hoof and mouth eradication in 1929 in Yosemite/Tulare; one of my great uncles was a ranger at Kings Canyon, and I have three cousins who were born in Yosemite Valley.

If Dad’s family was thinking about taking a drive, there was always a relative to visit (Winters, Manteca, Alpaugh, Gridley, Firebaugh, Button Willow…), trees in bloom somewhere, or a birthday to celebrate – and I’m so fortunate that there was also a photo or two to take. It was my dad’s father who had the photography bug – and passed it on all over the family. I grew up playing with empty film canisters and reels.

The 1963 trip [the second trip] was to visit my mom’s relatives in Great Falls, Montana; they also visited the Great Salt Lake, Sale Lake City, Las Vegas, Carson City, & Helena.

Here’s the park permit from 1963  and a photo of  my dad, my brother and me at the park then. I would have been three, my brother seven.

Crater Lake Institute was happy to get this personal view of the park. While we focus on the inner workings, staff and history of Crater Lake, this other side is just as important. Thanks for sharing, Jimmy Rae.

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