Yesterday was “the” day; the day that I have been dreading. Chris and I loaded up the last of our lingering belongings which we shoved, wedged and crammed into the car until everything was securely packed in (Felix included!) and then drove home to Redding.
Granted, in a week I’m going to be boarding a plane in San Francisco and waking up 24 hours later in Bangkok, so I have much to be excited for, but I couldn’t help letting the sadness set in during the initial drive out of town. It was hard to fight back the tears when we backed down our driveway, while Kristina, Katie, Jamie and Allyson all waved goodbye to us until we were out of sight.
(Not the best photos of any of us, but ones I will treasure always, nonetheless!)
I’m really going to miss these folks, and I can’t recall ever feeling this terrible in the past when moving from one town to another… And I’ve moved a lot. Chris had to resort to telling stories about The Little Prince to make me feel better. I know these are long-lasting friendships I’ve made with some really special people, and that’s why I’m feeling the tugs that I am.
Well, enough weepiness and somber reflections! Here are some more photos from yesterday’s drive home :)
The trip home was more beautiful than we could have anticipated. The 299 is usually prone to being covered in blankets of snow and black ice, so we were a bit on edge when it rained all morning in Arcata. There were only small patches of snow here and there, though, and the blue sky started peeking out of the clouds about halfway through the drive, allowing the sun battle it out with the fog.
More shots from the 3 hr. trip can be viewed on my Flickr.