A Drive in the Pines is Worth Missing Overtime

When I got home, my wife was feeling a little bit cooped up. That happens fairly quickly when you work from home, and you don't have any errands to run. So, a drive through the newly fallen snow of the Sierra Nevadas was in order.

Driving through new snow requires no real destinatinon. The trip itself is the real moment to savor. The crystaline sparkle of the freezing snow on the edge of the woods shone around every curve of the highway. The payoff came as we rounded the bend at the outskirts of Fish Camp. Lights from the Apple Tree Inn made the new snow dazzle and dance. The icing was a foot thick at the Tenaya, which only made the warm glow of the fireside lobby appear even more inviting.

While putting on my tire chains in the parking lot of the Tenaya I realized that I could actually see the lights of Fresno. I suppose it takes a really clear sky to see that far, and there is no sky clearer than that immediately following a storm. It makes you feel both closer to the valley, and still, even secluded. Its like a magical portal opened up, and suddenly you can see across time.

Time becomes more important when you live in the mountains, and you want to go to the big city below to take your wife on a date. Seeing Fresno from 5000 feet up the mountain, and an hour away, and seeing it look so close was really quite an opportunity. In all this time I managed to miss a call from work for an emergency overtime opportunity. While I would say that I really like to work for that extra money in the paycheck, I think that sharing that time with my wife was definitely worth more.

"Time is a gift, given to you, given to give you the time you need, the time you need to have the time of your life." -Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth