This post won’t have any pictures in it. Because that’s what most people would expect. Leave it to me to keep you wanting more…

As you can tell from the title, the premise of my writing today is more about how vacations make me feel, rather than what they look like.

We were on the road for 12 hours yesterday and I took well over 100 pics. At one point I realized that I was taking shots of what vacation FELT like to me. I was trying to capture in a series of images how I felt in those moments.

So, let’s see if I can do this without those visual images.

The open road symbolizes freedom, escaping from the day-to-day, relaxing, rejuvenating…it feels like the spring blossoms on a plum tree.

Yet I feel a grit about the determination of survival as our truck fights against the gusty winds up the I-5, through the Central Valley, dodging tumbleweeds. This part of California is not what most people, who have never been to California, would think Cali looks like. There are groves of trees, miles of stinky cattle ranches, streams of semi trucks driven by overly tired men and women who just need to pay for their gas and feed their famly, fields of produce and raw goods that require back-breaking, sun-up to sun-down dedication… and I reflect on how hard we work so that we can merely live, as well as for the opportunity to once or twice a year escape and play.

Up and down the I-5 there are shiny new barns, rusted out sheds and decrepit structures leaning with the wind… and behind those piles of metal and junk that will eventually be either repurposed, burned or tossed. There are workers, carrying baskets of produce on their heads, sweating in the sun, skin chaffed from the wind.

Seeing symbols of this level of determination make me grateful for my two hands and the ability to solve problems. I feel energized by the ability to labor (albeit much differently than the Central Valley farmers, but in MY way) … I draw inspiration merely from the thrill of the creation.

But to have the opportunity, on a vacation, on a road trip, to ponder such topics as “why do we work so hard?”, “why do we work so hard just to keep life going?”, “why can’t we play more often?”… it makes me grateful for the opportunity to strap on the seatbelt and just SIT, listen to some good tunes, take a ton of pics, connect with my hero-of-a-hubby (who is funny beyond heck and had me laughing to the point of tears yesterday), and see what other parts of the world calls “life as we know it”.

Day 1 involved too many potty breaks (deal with it — it happens), a Rest Area picnic, sharing random thoughts, taking too many pictures, dinner at a unique/local Redding joint called Yaks Koffee and several long and drawn out exhales… in gratitude for the opportunity to escape. I was asleep by 8 pm … life is good!

Vacations make me feel pink…like the Spring blossoms on a plum tree, the softer side of the survival of life.