my life passed before my eyes yesterday. multiple times. i saw visions of my childhood long since forgotten. this happens when you take a leisurely drive up the country with matt, whose sports and video game interests lean towards F1 racing and Need For Speed Carbon. this should have been expected on a long, twisty road alongside the pacific coast. he has trouble separating reality from fantasy. i kept telling him the car has no X button, but he insisted i should have brought my laptop along to look up cheats all the same.

this series of signs right before you start the drive up the mountain also set off a sense of foreboding:

Chuckanut Drive (Hwy 11) is an alternate route from where we live, north to Bellingham. an alternate to the freeway, i should say, where you’ll only see cars, billboards and guardrail. it takes you on a very loverly, scenic route alongside the pacific coastline through the town of Edison where the famous journalist Edward R. Murrow was born, in and out of towns like Allen & Bow, Bayview — barely there, quaint little places with B&Bs, seafood restaurants, antique shops, and art galleries.

then you continue the drive along the rock shoulder of the Chuckanut Mountains and neighbor, when i say along the rock shoulder, i mean ALONG the rock shoulder. we were close enough for me to reach out and touch the rocks by my window at several points along the way.

how this stuff doesn’t just continually fall off on people’s heads as they zoom around the corners of this drive is beyond me.

oh, but that was a clear shot. most of the time, i actually saw the rock more like this:

you know, zooming by. and yeah, that’s my mirror in the lower shot of the frame. amazing it didn’t graze the wall at any point. you know? the wall we passed in a blur? sort of like this sign:

that one recommends a speed of 25 MPH. in case you were wondering, because the shot was so blurry? we were going slightly MORE than 25 MPH. around corners like this:

still, when i wasn’t praying for my life to be spared or covering my eyes in horror, there were some lovely sights to be seen. this tree really struck my fancy, for some reason:

in fact there were a lot of cool, old trees up there.

it sort of had an other-wordly feel to it. like stepping out of the car into a fairy tale world. the drive continues on along, overlooking the San Juan Islands.

finally it ends up in old Fairhaven in Bellingham. lots of eclectic restaurants, shops, etc. that’s where we stopped for dinner before i suggested an alternate route home. it’s not that i’m a chicken. or that i’m not willing to suffer for art. it’s just that it was getting dark and i was worried about the dogs cause, you know, THEY seemed a little scared and — okay, i am a chicken! i’m not willing to suffer for a few pictures! i’d rather live! are you happy now? it was that damn burma shave sign! i’m very susceptible to gimmick bill board advertising. but look, i’m alive to tell the tale. that’s important, right?