Getting the flavor of...Oregon’s natural wonder, and more

Oregon’s natural wonder

“Chances are you’ve never seen anything like Crater Lake,” said Louis B. Parks in the Houston Chronicle. Located in southwestern Oregon, Crater Lake National Park (nps.gov/crla) boasts views that leave one “babbling clichés: awesome, spectacular.” The result of the violent collapse of a volcano around 5,500 B.C., the “serenely peaceful lake” occupies a deep, steep-walled rock bowl and is graced with an enticing uninhabited island. To truly appreciate what makes the setting special, take the ranger-guided tour aboard a boat that cruises past Wizard Island as it circles the lake’s perimeter. (Be warned: The tour requires a 1.1-mile hike down to the dock.) “Vast as the lake is, what wows your eyes is the color.” The dream-like, indigo hue comes from several factors, including depth: At more than 1,900 feet, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in America. “If you saw a painting of a lake this blue, you’d call the artist a liar.”

A restored golf mecca

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If you’ve ever wanted to play North Carolina’s storied Pinehurst No. 2 golf course, do it now—“before tee times get scarce,” said Dan Vukelich in the Chicago Tribune. The Pinehurst Resort (pinehurst.com) is due to host the 2014 U.S. Open, which means traffic on the resort’s Donald Ross–designed signature track is likely to build steadily. Renovations completed last spring restored many of the original features of the century-old course as a way of toughening the challenge it offers. Project architects Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore “pored over aerial photos from the 1940s” in order to “strip away later alterations.” Fairways are now “wider but harder to hold,” and virtually everything that’s not fairway is pine straw, hardpan, sand dunes, or trees. The new/old look underlines golf’s recent commitment to environmentally sustainable courses, and if it wins the pros’ approval, “it could signal new life for other classic designs thought to be obsolete.”