I Need a Dose of This!

For the past little while, well, long while actually, I have had a major craving for the California coast (I'm in a nostalgic mood, so bare with me). I grew up not too far from Bodega Bay (northern CA), and miss the ocean so much. It's weird how I really have a craving for it! Isn't it beautiful? And not only do I miss the ocean, and the beautiful, winding drive to the ocean, I also miss the vineyards. The house I grew up in was a really old victorian style home out in the country, smack dab in the middle of gorgeous vineyards and rolling hills. The Russian River was a good walk away, and we spent a lot of time there as kids swimming, catching tadpoles, and fishing for catfish. The blackberries would grow in wild patches all along the country roads, and my mom would load all us 10 kids up in the Dodge van and we'd go pick blackberries for pies, cobblers, jam, freezing, and anything else my mom could think of. And these blackberries were so sweet and juicy-like nothing I've had since. My mouth waters just thinking of my mom's big blackberry pies, warm out of the oven, smothered in vanilla ice cream. It doesn't get much better than that!

I used to spend hours as a young girl outside, exploring my surroundings, wandering, taking hikes up the big hill that stood in back of our house, climbing the walnut tree or the plum tree and thinking I was invisible; in the garden running up and down all the bean and corn rows that felt like sky scrapers above me; examining bugs and playing with fuzzy brown caterpillars; riding my bike for hours on end, playing "restaurant" or "catering" with produce from the garden-specifically green beans and grapes from the vineyards-an odd combo I know, but very tasty to me at the time. I spent a lot of time looking at the wide variety of flowers and plants in our front yard that had been planted there decades before, and all the many different colors of roses in the rose garden. Some days when I would want some time to myself, I would go sit atop the swimming pool slide, where I could see over the fence and into the vineyards and the hills beyond, and just sit, and ponder, and wonder how far the hills went. What a wonderful feeling it was to feel like I was on top of the world and no one else could touch me. Life was so carefree. So simple.

Life isn't so simple now. And maybe that's what I'm craving is the simplicity I had when I was young. But life is so beautiful now with so much more to it. The world is a beautiful place. Utah is a beautiful place, and I look at the mountains everyday and am thankful for their beauty, but a part of me will always be in California, and right now I'm wanting to be with that part. But for now I'll have to just remember, and rely on the memories until our next trip to Bodega, 2009. What a sweet reunion it will be!