Two roads diverged in a wood and I -- I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.
~Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
~Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
 A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.
~ George Moore, The Brook Kerith  The gold on the ground is pretty. I wish it was in the sky. I try to appreciate the ordinariness of a cloudy day, but long rainy season is long.
 Today I had to drive to the east side of the Cascade mountains in southern Oregon. Of course, my luck being what it is, it rained like crazy below 2000' yesterday, last night, and this morning, and snowed like crazy above 2000', which meant the passes across the mountains were treacherous at best. Chains were required to get through the Willamette and Santiam Passes, the Willamette being my usual route
I decided to take a southern route, which took longer - over four hours of driving in the rain - but I hoped would not be as difficult to travel. It was perfect. The road between Medford and Klamath Falls is a normal two-lane highway, lightly traveled this time of year. For 67 miles I had the eastbound highway nearly to myself. On an empty, forested mountain road, with the cruise control set at 60, movement seems nonexistent, time slows down, and all that matters is the color of the trees and sky and clouds as the sun touches everything. Add a playlist of amazing music to the mix, and it makes a damn good end to a long day.  It's been a long, gray rainy season and I haven't done a whole lot of sightseeing recently. I was going through old pictures from the last few years, though, and realized that I have seen some awesome things worth sharing, even if I didn't just take the pictures today.
So I'll be posting a mix of old and new things that I think are awesome. This particular shot I took last spring, overlooking the Columbia River. If you've seen the Twilight movies, parts of the scenery overlooking forests and river were filmed just a few miles from this point. Oregon truly is home to some of the most spectacular scenery in the lower 48. Happy Easter and Happy Spring!  No fancy quotes today. I had plans to go out and indulge myself in shopping bliss, but when I finally got around to leaving the house, the sky cleared up and I was reminded of the good parts of living in Portland. Decided to enjoy the sunlight instead.
Mt. Hood is somehow always the same, yet always different. Snows fall, ice melts. No matter what it's always impressive. The mountain accepts the cycles of change from its sturdy and unmovable place in the Cascade Mountains. There's a lesson there, I think.  The real thing is not the goal, the real thing is the beauty of the movement. The real thing is not reaching, the real thing is the journey. Remember, the real thing is the journey, the very traveling. It is so beautiful, why bother about the goal? And if you are too bothered about the goal, you will miss the journey, and the journey is life - the goal can only be death.
~ Osho |
The [Defunct] Challenge
The rules: The 100 Pictures, 100 Days challenge was a project between SomethingOrdinary.net and anitography.com. For 100 days, starting September 24, 2010, we had the goal of capturing beauty in ordinary things and sharing it through pictures. Archives
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