Digging Deeper

I've just had the most remarkable experience which may be difficult to express the enormity in simple words and pictures.  I was driving home from a weekend trip to pick some things up at my place of work.  I work in a neighboring town and I normally commute to it by means of a highway that runs through orchards of some kind (I'm not even sure what they are growing but I do know that almonds are a very common crop in our area.)  Most of my commute looks like this:

And I am usually driving with either the time constraint of clocking in or the time constraint of wanting to get home.  Today, as Laurie was teaching a class, I had no such time constraints and I remembered my friend Matt Raley telling me about the River Road.  While living in that neighboring town, he would often have occasion to drive to the town in which I live, and he told me that he would sometimes take the River Road.  It served no practical purpose and, in fact, added time to the trip, but it boasts a stunning view and takes you right by the Sacramento River.  I was told that it makes a sort of loop from Highway 32 back to Highway 32 after a time.  Which, upon arriving home, I found a map on http://www.chicovelo.org to illustrate:

I had no idea how it worked at the time, but when I saw the sign on 32, I turned.  First of all, it is a country road, which meant that I had the road to myself (even to the point where I could stop and take photographs.)  Second, it would wind around and there would be these startling spots of something simple, lovely, but unexpected coming into view:

Unfortunately, I was unable to take photos at the majestic Sacramento River.  There was also the moment of exhilaration at realizing that I was only half convinced that I would be able to find my way back home and the subsequent delight of reaching familiar landmarks. 

So often in life I find that simple acts of re-examining the ordinary through different perspectives to be some of the most rewarding and joyful acts in life.  Anticipating life continuing in a similar vein for some time, I have the option of taking a different path now and seeing entirely different views.  But even if I choose not to at the end of a long day, now as I drive I shall at least know that that is there.