West - Crater Lake - Where to Stay?

So I'm planning a trip to some relatives in Eugene OR, and wanted to make a minitrip down to Crater Lake and Ashland to see a play at the Shakespeare Festival. Our thinking was that we'd leave one morning, do Crater Lake that afternoon, stay somewhere nearby that night, do more Crater Lake in the morning (if there's that much to do....if not, any other suggestions?), and then drive to Ashland and do the play at night, and return to Eugene afterwards late at night.

However, both of the lodges inside the park are booked for the night we were planning on staying there. What other options are there outside of the park? We would rather less expensive than luxury, but are flexible if something nice enough comes up.

Also, is there anything on the way EUG-->Crater Lake or Crater-->Ashland that people recommend stopping at?

Any suggestions would be very helpful! Thanks!

Might want to keep calling the Crater Lake Lodge/Mazana Motor Inn as the (Xanterra?) website doesn't show last-minute cancellations. If you can get one of the upper view rooms, it is certainly worth it (the top floor rooms are 2 level lofts which would be great for a larger party). We had a corner room that faced the lake (above the restaurant) and it was spectacular at sunset and down, in fact all day. Even a nice view of the lake from the "throne"!

Failing that, there's a camping lodge (with cabins) out of the park (north exit) towards I-5. Could be mosquito-infested though, and some motel cabins way out on the otherside of that road that terminates at the Bend-Klamath Falls highway (the one that parallels I-5 miles to the east). Not sure if there's anything too close by outside the park on the south exit.

You can always stop at that lake where the blue green algae craze emanated from.

We stayed at the Lodge. The restaurant there is pretty good.

You'll probably go by Diamond Lake on the way to or from. That's worth a quick look.

At Crater Lake, the big thing to do is to drive or bicycle around the rim. Maybe a bit of hiking but the elevation makes that a bit difficult. Other than that, unless you want to make a fairly taxing climb down and then back up in order to take a boat ride, there isn't a lot to do right at the lake. (There is some nearby horseback riding though.) If you were to drive down from Eugene in the morning, you could pretty much get the whole Crater Lake experience in the afternoon, and ether stay there for the evening, or hit the road and get halfway to Ashland before checking in someplace..

It's really a beautiful spot, and I certainly recommend visiting, but once you've seen it, that's about it. If you're looking for one more thing to do, you might consider the Oregon Caves National Monument, near Grants Pass.

A couple of ideas:
--Running Y Resort (http://www.runningy.com) is on Hwy 140 between Klamath Falls and Ashland/Medford. An upscale 2nd home community with an Arnold Palmer-designed course; they have a lodge and restaurant. About an hour or so from Crater Lake.

--Lake of the Woods, also on Hwy 140 with good access to Medford and Ashland. In the middle of Natl Forest land, there are rental cabins (http://www.lakeofthewoodsresort.com/cabins.php) at the resort which are quite charming. Restaurant as well. Kind of a summer camp environment, but in the positive sense. We have a cabin at the lake and it is truly beautiful and tranquil. Again, you're about an hour from CL and 45 minutes from Ashland.

One big advantage of either of those: the temperature. Daytime highs at Running Y and LOW is about 75-80 degrees, about 15 degrees warmer than CL. You'll love Southern Oregon. Lots more to Ashland than merely Shakespeare. Budget Travel magazine had an article (http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2009/04/03/AR2009040302640.html) last issue that focused on Eugene, Ashland and Jacksonville. They mentioned Union Creek Resort on Hwy 62 near Prospect as a CL alternative.