I’m not a terribly dedicated morning person, but I love a good sunrise. There’s something about seeing that color emerge and morph from subtle pink hues barely lining the horizon to the deep oranges that take over the darkness and give us a new day. I grew up with the luxury of being able to sit at the big bay window in my living room watching it happen without leaving my house. The view was completely unobstructed until I was about 40 years old, and the expansive corn fields that stretched across the east were the perfect backdrop.
Before my boys obtained their drivers licenses I would often take a detour home from dropping them at the bus stop. There is a spot two roads east of our house that overlooks the rolling orchards of Adams County, and I would arrive there just as the sun peeked out from behind the tree line that stood between me and York Springs. I would just sit there, parked off the road, watching as it covered the acres of apple trees beneath me in light. Once I was no longer a required taxi driver, however, I would relish in the silence of my house from the comfort of my warm and cozy bed for another hour after they took themselves to school, and miss every one of those sunrises. It’s not quite the same to watch out the window of my living room any more, and I’ve taken to enjoy the unobstructed sunsets over the back four.
This image I’ve shared here was taken one morning from the deck of the Airbnb we stayed at in November, in Los Osos along the central coast of California. According to most of the locals we met all along the coast, this isn’t where most tourists stay when visiting this area, but it always sounded like we found a “hidden gem”. When I’m looking for a spot to hang my hat when traveling, there’s a long list of things that must be present, and unobstructed views, at least on one side of the place, is one of those things. Our place was a small studio above a garage, with a porch that looked out on the view you see here, and sat on what used to be an orchid farm. It was full of big windows and left in all the light of the day. I woke up one morning to see that the entire room was painted pink (the irony is not lost on me), and I yelled to my friend, “Are you awake? Are you seeing this?” and we quickly left our beds and gathered ourselves on the porch to watch it unfold. What an absolute gift.
