picnics off the highway

we took an impromptu day trip just north of strawberry this past weekend to try and save us all from the droning lull that are our days as of late. the mid-80 degree weather we've been having fooled me into thinking we'd picnic under the pines and spend the late afternoon picking berries while hiking around some familiar old trails.

there's still snow up north. lots of it. and every familiar road still closed.

we ended up on our tailgate picnic-ing off the side of the highway, hiked around on some black rock while spencer sunbathed and then very shortly after having just arrived, we headed back for home.

the drive in itself was therapeutic enough to make the whole trip worth it, though. there's something healing about traveling the same road with our boys that we've traveled a million times as children with our own parents.

and maybe it was the smell of the approaching pines or the melancholic sound of the national playing through our car's speakers, but for a fleeting moment as we traveled north up the beeline highway, our little family in tow, everything around me felt full. like my throat was closing in on me just trying to hold it all in. all of the good, all of the bad.

that single moment saved the entire day for me.