By: Ada Xin

I stood over one of the towering cliffs at Crater Lake. Snow and rain blew into my eyes.A frigid stone wall held up my icy fingers while the rest of my body stayed as warm as a cup of hot chocolate. My pink jacket, adorned withwhite flowers, made me look as if I was an overstuffed teddy bear.

Taking a deep breath, I smelled fresh snow and water. Continuously swiping at my jacket to keep cold droplets of water off of it, I looked down. Down into the deep blue waters of Crater Lake and the snow-covered ground, which was filled with tall evergreens that swayed with the frosty wind, I wondered if the Oregon weather was usually like this in the summer. Big, gray clouds covered half of the cliffs on the other side of the massive lake.

Turning to my friend Amber, I helped her put her glasses back on. Her glasses were incessantly battling tiny ice crystals and her cheeks were red because of the cold. Eventually, she decided to take her glasses off and put them into her pocket.

My mom called me over to look at the massive lake again, and I put my hand in my pockets, preparing for the freezing temperatures. I let out my breath and watched it turn into steam and blur my vision. The steam cleared, and so did the clouds, and when the rays of the sun shined down, I finally understood the beauty of Crater Lake.