Lone Mountain Brings Great Memories

     

I was searching my archives for creative pictures for my new web site and found this scenic shot.  I was instantly hit with many memories.  I couldn’t believe that I never included it in my portfolio of landscape photographs.  This was taken a few years ago when Gayle and the boys and I were on a camping trip in Eastern Washington.   We were driving down the highway and out of nowhere, this small mountain popped up.  I just had to pull over and take a picture.

     We had covered a lot of ground that week.  Our first two camping spots were less than desirable.  The first campground was overcrowded - I could stretch out my arms and touch my RV on one side and my neighbor’s on the other.  The next campground was dirty – broken glass and litter everywhere…and a drunk guy passed out in the bathroom.  Our third night, we found paradise at Bridgeport State Park near Chief Joseph Damn.  It’s a great campground off the beaten path.  Just our style.

     What is fun to me now are the different memories we each took from that trip.   This one picture can bring back so much.  Of course, the things our boys remember are very different than what Gayle and I remember.  (They talk about riding their bikes, finding a beaver dam and the drunk guy.) 

     A picture like this gets my imagination to run wild.  I think of the Native Americans that used this mountain for protection from the hot summers and storms in the winter.  I can see pioneers using the land for their cattle to graze or just passing by on their wagon trains as they were headed to the West Coast.  Or, I wonder, how many people like me saw one mountain, by itself, surrounded by dry, flat land and thought it was cool.

     I like to take pictures of cool people, inspiring places and interesting things.  I think this qualifies.  I think of the times I saw something on the side of the road that I thought would be a good picture and I didn’t pull over.  What did I miss?  After all, life is about the journey.