California is a state where thousands go to lose themselves in their dreams of fame, fortune, or just plain ole’ fun. Yet some of the best places to dream in California have nothing to do with Disneyland or Hollywood. The best places to dream in California are in its amazing natural settings.
On a road-trip to visit my cousin, my husband and I recently drove almost the entire length of the state on a variety of highways that took us along the windy roads next to the ocean, up and down towering mountains and cavernous canyons, between massive trees in Redwood forests, through miles upon miles of the nation’s fruits and vegetables growing in valleys (and just about anywhere else irrigation moistened the soil), and into the barren desert lands covered in scrub. The natural beauty of California made hours pass by in pleasant wonder as we traversed hundreds upon hundreds of miles from the Oregon border to Southern California.
One of my most prominent impressions in this car ride through California was the incredible variety of browns nature has bestowed there: the grey-green scrub scattered over caramel-colored rolling hills, the mustardy-yellow sandy brown of craggy cliffs cleaved from canyons walls, the golden shimmering wheat-brown of grasses on foothills dotted with Dr. Seuss style cedar trees, the purple-tinged brown of the sand at sunset, the rich orange ochre in cut away passes to make the highway through ancient mountains, the brick-red brown on fields that reminded me of Georgia clay, the deep mud brown on rocky cliffs, the burnt umber lining banks of Shasta lake not far from Red Bluff, the nutmeg and dark chocolate brown of freshly plowed fields, the blackened brown in burned-out canyons and hills, and the striations of multiple shades of brown from espresso through driftwood to bisque on the beach cliffs.
This kaleidoscopic of browns share the landscape with the azure blues of the ocean, the dusty greens of olive groves, the deep greens of the redwood canopy, the crimson red of ripe chili peppers in one field and strawberries in another, the yellow-red-orange of grape vines dressed in their autumn best, and the bright greens and purples of acres of lettuces, artichokes, and broccoli spattered with the multicolored dots of workers bent over in fields harvesting ripened crops or preparing the naked soil for the new ones.
California is a riot of color in vistas that tickle the senses and inspire wonder. As I took it all in, I wondered how often dream-chasing, or simply busy, Californians take time for a leisurely drive through their state to appreciate the spectacle that Mother Nature surrounds them in. Ah, California dreamin’ in color.
