Ponderings of a Day Tripper! Awakenings on a Journey....

So today I drove to California, and back!  My journey began at 3:00 am when the alarm went off, and I hit snooze every 8 minutes until about 3:30, showered, gathered my things and was out the door by about 4:20.

It was twilight outside, I could see the soft glow of the sun tucked down behind the mountains to the East and the nearly full moon glowed in the crystal clear sky over towards the West.   There is something so serene about traveling in the wee hours of the morning...

Through 6 Mile Canyon and down Geiger Grade, I pulled over to take a picture of the Reno City Lights before I dropped down into the city to hop on I-80.  You can see the sky is brighter to the right, that is towards the East.

The sky was slowly getting brighter and brigher as dawn rapidly approached and the sun's rays started stretching across the landscape.

Into California near Boomtown I hit construction...good thing I left early giving  myself plenty of time to get to my appointment at 9 am in Sacramento!   Very narrow lanes, like columns of cement with little room to move right or left, while trapped between big rigs at the front and rear.  The only way to go was forward!  Two lanes condensed to one, the only speed was SLOW.  A mere 20 MPH for miles and miles with a short break in between only to be back to two lanes again.

Did I fret?   Nope!  I enjoyed the aroma of the sage and pine wafting through my window and was grateful for a schedule that allowed me to go on this journey.  When I saw workers in trucks, on tractors and driving rigs I sent each one peaceful vibrations and sent them thanks for working all night in order to make our roads better.  I also sent a blessing to our Mother Earth for these roads to cut through her hills and valleys, so I thanked her for this.

Onward I went, the road opened up and the sun was rising illuminating the hills, I took a picture at the beginning of the forest and the moon is dancing above.  :)

I continued on, I was listening to U2 on the CD player and singing, it was such a 'now' moment and I was loving every single second of it.  Sometimes we Moms just need that time for 'peace' you know?  So as I drove along enjoying the now-ness of the moment there were a few little awakeing moments...Some bright and cheery like the amazing bright yellow flowers with a purple vine floral twisted in between.

Some perhaps a bit morbid in a sense, but awakening.  A young Doe who had gotten hit by a car, lay near the divider to the left of the road.   Something like this really opens your eyes to how we each are 'temporary'.

Forward I went and the trees were so amazing, I LOVE trees!   Living in California for 30 some years I was used to an abundance of trees, now living in the High Desert of Nevada there are certainly more sage bushes than there are trees.  I LOVE trees, I LOVE water, I LOVE nature, and I absorb every bit I can whenever I can. Even if it's being barefoot in my own yard :)

So through the trees and into Sacramento and a wall of TRAFFIC.  Instantly, memories of my past 'commutes' from when I worked full time and commuted to my office job in Cali.  Crawling, crawling... I took the moment to reflect on my gratitude for not having to commute like that any more!

Once I settled into gratitude, I smelled a beautiful aroma, some sort of flower wafting on the breeze, it took me way back to my Montessori school days.  Funny how a scent can transport you to another time and place isn't it?  I started thinking about when I was a child, my childhood friends, school... my mind was on wander with a grin on my face.  I then realized how quickly my daughter is growing, wow... another awakening moment.   One moment I'm back 30 years, the next moment my daughter is 11.

So at this point I'm not taking pictures as I got LOST.  Yep, even with a printed map AND GPS and I still got lost.  But, I was grateful I left early and though I passed through a VERY scary part of town on my adventure, I arrived an hour early at my destination!   LOST is just a moment, and everything happens for a reason.  The others who attended the meeting said they passed 3 accidents on the way, I passed one, so, divine intervention was in place.

Three hours in a meeting and by noon o'clock I was back en route towards home.  This time I decided to take Highway 50 through Lake Tahoe instead of Highway 80.  More of a scenic adventure!  

So when I left my house at 4:20 am it was 66 degrees, then dipped to about 51 in the mountains and by the time I got to Sacramento it waas 80 degrees at 8 am.  At noon it was 98, and on my way home I saw a high of 102 ~ wowsa!

I left my windows down the entire way, so many had their air conditioners on, I LOVE the heat!   How amazing our sun heats our planet! 

So I went from High Desert, to Trees, to Trees and Mountains and on the way back there were rolling hills of dry grasses....  The planet's landscape never ceases to amaze me.  Always, ALWAYS be in AWE of the world around you.  Never stop being amazed, never stop wondering about the miracles that happen around you.

This picture to the left here shows the dry grassy hills and just over those dry grassy hills soon will be the snow capped Sierra Mountains.    Absoloutely astonishing, no?

In 102 degree heat then within minutes you can see SNOW!

Zoom, zoom and I was back in the mountains.  Oh how I love it there!   The air is so clean from all those trees polishing the air!   As I acend the mountains I'm tripping out how HOT the climate was.  96 degrees in Placerville, crazy!

The road twists and turns, the cabin-like houses tucked off to the sides of the road are just gorgeous.  What a fun place to live along the beautiful river.  The river was rushing like crazy, so much snow run off, even though it was hot outside, that water is cold and dangerous and people can quickly get hypothermia in it!  Eek huh?  More wonderous aspects of nature!

The old fire damage looms on the naked areas of the hillside where all that remains are mere sticks from past trees and new vegetation starting a new life!   Nature's way  :)

As I near the Summit, my phone (and camara) battery bongs out.  So the final picture is of a section of pine forest.  Now this is a funny picture, you probably won't notice until I tell you.  All the trees appear to be tilting to the left, well this is because I used the one tall tree on the far left to attempt to align the camara, well that tree was tilted to the right, so when I 'aligned' it ended up making th rest of the trees look like THEY were tilting LOL

So due to low battery on the iPhone (I wiped out the batt with GPS and no I did not have a car charger ~ life, raw, real, it's me!  LOL)  I was not able to get some pictures of Lake Tahoe, but all things happen for a reason ~ and what a great reason to go back up to Lake Tahoe again, and soon!  I'm thinking next week, a day trip to the beach with my daughter. A picnic, some water fun and a spin around the cool park they have up there right on the beach!

So I dropped into Carson City around 2:30 and got my kiddo from her Auntie's around 3:00 and after chatting I was home sweet home around 3:30.  That's 12 hours after I woke up!  Now it's neary 11:30 pm as I writethis,  I've been up for nearly 20 hours straight, no wonder I'm going crosseyed as I'm typing this!   Well thankfully I can sleep in tomorrow :)

Any-who, a few little funnies I noticed along the way that I wanted to mention....

Funny Ponderings From Along The Trip:

• Do the telecommunications people REALLY think the fake 'pine tree' cell towers blend in with the actual pine trees?  Maybe a better color match would help, the teal trees really don't mesh with the natural pine color!
• Why someone who goes very slow (below the speed limit) on a curvy one-lane road, stacking up traffic behind them, suddenly finds the gas pedal when a passing lane opens up just to make sure no one will get in front of them. (?)
• It's in the 90's, the group of younger kids are all in swim wear walking down by the casinos in Lake Tahoe, yet wearing thick, fuzzy winter hats?

There is my day summed up, an Anderson Adventure for one ~ to California and back in less than a day!   Oh and I came home, cleaned, cooked dinner and did yard work too!

I hope your day was exciting like mine!

Alethea Anderson