It is an odd thing traveling across the country because I always find myself looking for towns just like Santa Cruz. No matter where I go I always see Santa Cruz in every place I go. I love Santa Cruz because it always feels like home and I hope someday I find a place that makes me feel just as at home as my first love and home, Santa Cruz.
On our road trip up to Oregon we stopped for a snack in Corning, California which proclaimed itself as the olive capital. I am a huge olive fan so I pulled off at a tourist shop full of olives of every kind. I was a kid in a candy shop… olive shop.
They even had a huge sample bar for all kinds of olives from Cajun spiced, Texas hot, garlic, Kalamata, and smoked. First note, Texas spicy green olives were definitely the best, I had many, many samples of it. The woman kept eyeing me, I guess I wasn’t sneaky enough. Second note, smoked olives are disgusting. I won’t make that mistake again. They had really cool little scoopers to pick the olives out, it was quite the experience.
That was about it for the beginning of our trip. There was a lot of rain but it cleared up after a bit leaving behind remnants of beautiful storm clouds. When the sun set I was dying to take a picture but I was driving. That put me in a bit of a bad mood, I always get a little peeved when I see a shot and miss it. Let me tell you what it would have been: Big cumulous clouds, some light and some very dark, framed in orange and pink, hanging over an orchard. Do you understand now why I was upset?
We have stopped for the night in Redding. Tomorrow, University of Oregon and hopefully Willamette.
My question for you today is this; do you believe in dichotomy? Are there really only two sides, two options, black or white. One side or another to choose from. Or is there a third path that is yet undiscovered that you must find before you travel.
I believe it is easier to think of the world in black and white because it makes the world a little less complicated. But that doesn’t mean it is true or right. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems, as I say and it is true. It can be hard though trying to find the third path in life. There is no denying the fact that the third road is the hardest to travel because it is unpaved. Many people believe in a dichotomous world because it is much easier to travel the well beaten path. This is not how I live, this is not how I think anyone should live.
So I say, seek the untraveled path and find a new way. Escape the black and white to live in a new world that you create.