I've spent each morning and evening for the last nineteen years traveling the same sixteen miles of road each way, five or more days a week. Though it makes my carbon footprint conscience squirm to admit it, in that time I've made over 6,000 trips coming and going.
As commute views go, I'm blessed. Some are solely of pavement, true. However a portion of the drive gives me glimpses and wide open views of great green swaths of fir trees, the Puget Sound, Mount Rainier and the Narrows Bridge. (Otherwise known as Galloping Gertie, for those who remember the black and white news footage of her earlier demise. Not a comforting mental image on windy days.)
Depending on the time of year, morning and evening trips can include the sunrise, sunset or both. On occasion that eternal rising and setting is so beautiful my heart fairly leaps from my chest. Most of the colorful skies are fleeting, here and gone so quickly they seem more imagined than real. Not so with the sunrise above, which followed me in one stage or another through almost ten miles of my morning journey.
It caught my breath at the rise of the arched bridge. We, the mass of morning migratory workers, moved at procession speed, paying reverence to that glorious sight. A vivid sky painting lingering long enough to fill our vessels for the day ahead.
As we made way along our predetermined paths, the colors, almost imperceptibly, began to fade. First the red-orange-rusts, then yellow-golds, until the finest of clean clear blue remained. I walked into work under that pure blue, with the sky painting tucked safely away in my camera. And my heart.
Happy Valentine's Day!
The photo taken from the bridge has Mount Rainier in the
background with it's own set of clouds.
None of these photos have been altered.
7 comments:
Really a beautiful commute into work. The bridge shot is beautiful and to capture it at sunrise/sunset is outstanding. Makes the stress of driving almost worth it. --Jack Matthews
"Makes the stress of driving almost worth it".
So true Jack. Also serves to clear my head after particularly stressful work days. Nature is wonderfully therapeutic that way isn't it?
Amazing photos...the top one is now on the wall of inspiration!
It felt amazing. So much intense color everywhere. It's a wonder we didn't all run into each other from looking up instead of ahead.
just dazzling, Chris! They are such beautiful pieces of art. Thank you for sharing with us.
xoxo,
doris
When I have been at the beach, it has been so relaxing that I fall asleep like a baby. It's been Galveston or Corpus Christi here in Texas, but I would love to see your area.
Jack,
Funny, I was just thinking the other day about that place in the sun, the between place, where sleep waltzes with ocean sounds. So restful. It does feel like baby sleep. I've not been to Southern Texas, only Dallas and up, so haven't seen those shores of yours. That warm soft sand feel is rarely what WA beaches offer. Especially on the coast. Hard, rocky shores with gravel beaches and much cooler temps are common. But...the rain forests are near by! Magical kingdoms. No baby sleeping to be done there, but one could be blanketed with the draping moss. Well worth the journey.
Hugs, Chris
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