another reason I miss the mountains

There was this bluff where I went to university, and I can't quite remember the first time my friend took me there, though I'm guessing it was Freshman year. It felt like it was out in the middle of nowhere, but it was really just away from the usual areas we frequented. I remember the last time I went it looked like at the base there was some construction going on, so I'm sure it's all built up now.

But you could go up there and then climb up to this other little platform and see around our little valley. You could see the highway and the cars, and all the little lights sprinkled against the darkness of the mountains. And we weren't very high up, there were certainly higher points, but it was an accessible area to go to if you needed to blow off steam and see some of the stars.

We went up there once during junior year to take a look at the fires that were creeping towards our campus, but thankfully stayed away. From my apartment that year, at night, you could see the flames licking up at the sky from the mountain ridge and it freaked me out. I was from a place where nothing burned, and this was a new concept...and to be able to see the flickering from my kitchen and living room was...well, I'm not sure there's a way to properly describe it. But I remember when it was still far off, we went up to that spot and looked at the redness on the horizon.

It was always cool up there. Partly because the temperature dropped at night, but with nothing else around, there was nothing to block a breeze, to divert around you. And it was quiet there too. We went from our cocoon in the car with house music usually blaring, to that stillness with a dull hum from the traffic below.

Elsewhere a friend this evening talked about driving through the desert and I guess that's what made me think about this. I don't think I ever went to that spot Senior year, I was too busy with papers and finals and my senior paper. Oh and resumes and figuring out what I wanted to do with my life. But if it's not built up, and if I manage to make it out to California in the near future, I'd like to go back and visit.

I think I miss that stillness and that breeze. But I've had similar moments here. And I know that if I left, I'd be reminisicing about those moments, and missing the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, or the park up the street, or even my rooftop.