We started this week on a 180. How the previous week or so had us melting in the desert, this week began with the cold and damp northwest. As this begins as a cooling reprieve, can soon turn into the other side of the same coin that contained Death Valley. Too much of one end of a spectrum is just that. Too much.
We spent a couple days between Oregon and Washington, stopping shortly in Lebanon, OR to see an old friend. RLTW. Up into the hills where we set up camp, we saw the usual wildlife, to include a black bear cub. Mama bear was nowhere in sight, though. Not the most settling feeling when you’re looking to spend the night.
Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Washington.
Bonneville Dam Fish Hatchery, OR.
Photographically, however, the northwest can sometimes add its own moodiness, like it occasionally does to the psyche of a resident who has overstayed their welcome. Parts of me misses this region, though. Mountains meeting ocean and rivers, friends.. But for now it’s just a passing through. And for me, for now, that’ll do just fine.
Paradise, MT.
Strawberry Reservoir, UT.
It’s become clear to me, though, that after the homestretch of our journey moves us back east, through scenic Idaho, and glorious Montana, that Colorado was last for a reason. This place feels like home.
Canyonlands National Park, UT.
The last near month on the road, has unfortunately caused me to go scenery blind. Exposing myself to some of the most incredible vistas continuously for this long has caused me to be unintentionally and involuntarily unappreciative of what nature has laid out before us. I’ve had to consciously put the car in park, get out, and stretch my legs, just to breathe in all that surrounds me. That was the point of this whole thing, anyway, right?
Even as I write this, my back faces the outside world. I guess that’s the irony of it.
Time to turn my chair around.