An Ode to Trees (or, Let's Get the Hell Outta Here!)

Sorry folks, but these native North Carolinians are about to go absolutely MAD for want of greenery and shade.  We've been in treeless, hot, arid spaces for over a week.  The contrast has really brought to our mind how invisible one's own culture is....we didn't realize how much we need trees!

Along the way from NV to ID to OR, we saw again, a vastly changing landscape.

And then, suddenly, TREES!

Now they aren't the type of trees we're used to back east...far more conifers than deciduous.   I wonder what the pioneers along the Oregon Trail felt when they finally arrived in these wooded lands.  It's definitely cooler here, with higher altitude, but somehow it feels more hospitable.

Which makes us wonder...how much is our sense of beauty, of comfort, of goodness, is tied to what we are accustomed to?  There certainly are people who choose to live in desert climes....I presume they find beauty, comfort, and goodness there.  But for us, not so much.  Give us trees, please!

We are so grateful to be shaded, to hear the rustle of the wind in the leaves, to see something taller than us providing shelter.  We collectively breathed a huge sigh of relief when we arrived in this part of the country  So glad we pressed onward.