Beautiful weather for our driving day. I've tried in the past to capture the beauty of this drive, but let’s just say, Ansel Adams I'm not. I never remotely capture my sense of the gold fields studded with wind-sculpted trees or the wide expanse of pine forested hills so I won’t try. Here’s a brief video though of one stretch through redwoods. What doesn’t come across is the twisting nature of the road. Linda handled the curves admirably, but noted that she had to peel her right hand off the steering wheel when we got through that part.
In the bigness of Northern California terrain, there’s plenty of opportunity to contemplate one's smallness in the grand scheme and also the magnificence of the natural world. And then there’s this:
Even as a young child I pondered the usefulness of this kind of sign. Is it really giving you information that’s useful? Should we be practicing our dodging-rocks-while-avoiding-oncoming-vehicles-skills? Or is it a warning to get your prayer life in order? Should we be recalling that life is short and our end time unknown? So much to consider on a long drive.
Life's fragility acknowledged, we arrived intact and were met by a wonderful representative of joy in all things and especially for old friends. Our host, Jo had some other business to attend to so we were greeted by Molly Dog who made us feel most enthusiastically welcome
After initial greetings were taken care of, she offered me an opportunity to participate in the much loved butt-rubbing ritual and made sure I understood the requirements of my role
Jo arrived a bit later, but no photos were taken because we were too busy enjoying the deep goodness of being friends for more than 40 years, reunited after a mean pandemic separation.