i am a lake

though i grew up around, and have in the past found myself to be very fond of, lakes...i didn't really get it until i finished driving up the pacific coast highway.  from san luis obispo to santa cruz and again from mendocino to ferndale, taking hours of travel time along this winding road was all left to dust the moment i set my eyes upon clear lake off california highway 20 near glendale and lucerne.  i know that 'i am a lake'.  there is just something about the serenity of it.  it's calm and quiet, and generally appears to want you to participate with it.  unlike an ocean that as you start to enter, pushes you down, sideways.  pulls you under, out.  fooling with your egerness to play.

no, no, a lake would never dream of being so mean.  i am a lake because i like to be surrounded by that which i can help sustain, and that which enhances my living as well.  to reflect beauty.  something that is complimentary but not the same, leaving the lake an anomaly amoungst the encircling.  and i'm not taking this to the deep depths of flourishing aquatic life and expanses and the like, just the initial appearence of it.  the contrast of objects.

and thus, i find myself compairing places that i am seeing for the first time with places that i can recall visiting before.  and though that might be a nice way to categorize places to explore again, i am learning that i want to try to let each things be itself.  hard, hard to do.

travel resolutions:
7.  try to search for one thing at each stop, different from all other places

recommendations:
     if you ever get to ferndale, ca [ a 1800's established victorian town.  population 1300 ] explore the cemetary as the morning light is starting and the fog is still present...it's very humbling.  and also go to the cafe main street.  they look fairly swank and upscale, but for some pancakes and tea the bill was under $4.oo.  that's denny's prices with white linen and two forks.
    
     and if you are ever driving on CA 299 between willits and fort bragg, be sure you have convertible or sun/moon roof.  in my xterra [ top included ] the height of the trees were sometimes missed and the entire scale just felt a little too enclosing.  it's truly a sky high experience.