escape

portland arboretum, october 2012.

i need a place as peaceful as this that i can visit whenever i please. i need a place where there are no noisy neighbors or yappy dogs and screaming children. no highway sounds, no city or suburban noise.  

the portland arboretum is the most peaceful, relaxing place i have ever been to. most of the time i spend longing for the northwest, i spend dreaming of this place and others like it out there. it was the morning after a long oregon rain, and the sun finally showed itself again. no one else was in the section of redwoods that we were, and the silence and beauty of it all was amazing. the leftover rain on the trees was quietly dripping off the glowing branches in the sun, and the only other sounds that could be heard were the birds' fluttering wings and chirps. i had never felt so at ease in my life. as corny as all this sounds, it seemed that nothing else mattered. no school, no work, no busy cities, there were no worries. i could spend all day in there, and i wish i lived close enough so that i could. i long to visit again and hopefully explore the secluded, snowy mountains too. the only peace and quiet i have right now is very late at night when the house and the rest of our neighborhood is silent. turning on soft music and dreaming of these trees is my happy place.

- m