Stunned by Beauty

The word beauty keeps coming up for me here in the Pacific Northwest.  I'm struck by it.  I'm surrounded by it.  It constantly takes my by surprise.  It's one thing to drive somewhere and know that when you get there, you're going to see something beautiful, that you're going to be awestruck.   It is quite something else to be driving along on a Portland freeway and glance to your left or right and be taken, absolutely taken by what you see.  It can be a stand of fir trees, a view of  a river or  lake or just a creek but it's a view that if seen in the Silicon Valley, you would have driven there to see it.  This is new.  Up until now, I thought that I had lived in a beautiful place.  I lived in what at  one time, I lovingly called paradise.  It was beautiful in weather.  It was beautiful in access to the beach.  It was beautiful in proximity to trails that led to forests, mountains and lakes, rivers, and even creeks.  There was nothing I loved better than walking the Los Gatos Creek Trail or taking the short drive to Santa Cruz.  Enroute, I would see and smell the redwoods of the  Santa Cruz Mountains and at the end be rewarded with the amazing views of Highway 1 and  the Pacific Ocean.  There was nothing like it.  I told myself over and over again how lucky I was to live in this amazing place.  And I truly believed it.  But access to beauty and being surrounded by beauty are two distinct things.  Here, there is a respect for the beauty of nature for nature's sake.  There is not the allocation of nature that California executes by setting aside beautiful land for parks and preserves.  Here, nature is everywhere.  It is respected.  Houses and neighborhoods are built around nature and parks are added to that.  So,  honestly, you can be driving the freeways of Portland and look to the side and see amazing vistas that you would have driven to see in California.  This is beauty.  This is paradise.