The Third Fourth

Yesterday was our second Fourth of July together (actually our third, if you count the fact that we met on the Fourth of July two years ago). We had a lot of trouble deciding what to do with the holiday and we were halfway through the day before we made up our minds. We did get to watch the Shuttle Discovery take off, which was amazing, but then we just didn't know what to do. I still had a nasty cough from my cold, so I wasn't feeling up to a hike or any serious athletic activity. Brock was restless and we were both bored by all our own suggestions. There were chili cook-offs, festivals, and picnics, but we just kept shrugging and saying, "I don't know, do you want to go?"

Finally, around twelve thirty, I told him what I really wanted was a drive. I wanted to see scenery, but I couldn't hike, so could we go for a drive, maybe along the coast? He looked interested and we pulled up a map online. Where should we go? I jokingly pointed North and said "let's just drive to Oregon and back tonight!" Brock liked the idea, but we found the drive to Oregon would have taken 14 or 15 hours to complete. Too much for one night. Still, Brock said, North sounds pretty good.

He began testing paths to different destinations, to see how far away they were. We finally settled on Mendocino, CA. It was four hours away and Brock had been there as a boy. He said it was a small artist community. It sounded charming and plenty far away enough to count as an escape. It was startling to discover we could actually do this without anyone else's permission. We looked at each other and laughed, then we scrambled around quickly to pack the car with food, warm clothes, and music. By 1:00 we were on our way and still laughing at how crazy we were.

We drove up 101 and then took 128 over to Highway 1 and on up to Mendocino. Neither of us had ever made this trip before and the scenery was really lovely. We rolled the windows down and played music on a CD player (plugged into the cigarette lighter, because the CD player in the car is broken). We reveled in the freedom of having nowhere in particular to be.