January 18: Basking on Backroads

What a glorious sun-drenched ride along backroads towards one of my favorite eateries for lunch. Bright blue skies, lavender-colored fields, and stark white mountain peaks, all joyfully announced a blessed break in the rather relentless rain of the last several weeks.

Heading out this morning with the temperatures hovering at 38 degrees, I elected to avoid mountain passes and hilly switchbacks and instead follow the Willamette River west through vineyards and farmlands before heading north to Aloha and the La Pachanga food cart.

Taking Stafford Road and then Wilsonville Road, I road past rolling green hills and orchards of fruit and nut trees, their gnarled branches stretching out under the cobalt blue heavens above. The silver rippling waters of the Willamette River flowed to my left, peeking out behind the brown-, red-, and orange-colored deciduous trees lining the shore. I leaned gently back and forth around the curves, checking for ice in the shade spots and breathing in the crisp air.

Heading north along highway 99W, SW Elwert Road, and then Scholls Ferry Road, I managed to make my way north along quiet country roads, reveling in the lack of traffic and soaking in the warm rays of sun as I passed vineyards and farms on both sides. Pops of color materialized all around, with bright green moss covering the tree branches hanging over the road, lavender colored fields stretching out into the horizon, and little glimpses of snow-capped mountains appearing in my rear-view mirror.

After a delightful meal at La Pachanga, I headed back towards West Linn, stopping to capture a photo of the magnificent snow-topped granite peaks of Mount Hood rising up between the evergreen trees just a few blocks from home.