Roads

February 2019

It’s a Sunday afternoon in February.

The day is spectacularly clear. The winter sun casts shadows as crisp as the fresh ocean breeze, painting the world around you in a myriad of oversaturated hues. As you turn north onto 11th Avenue, you face downhill over the Inner Sunset and Golden Gate Park; far in the distance, the red tops of the Golden Gate Bridge knife up over the hills of the Presidio. To your left, past the Outer Sunset, you can see the Pacific Ocean.

As you wind your way through Golden Gate Park and up Park Presidio Boulevard, you’re walled on all sides by verdance that gleams bright in the light. There’s but a smidgeon of traffic as you cross the bridge and head northwards through Mill Valley—most of the usual weekend crowd has long since passed through. The scent of eucalyptus overwhelms you as you drive out of Mill Valley.

Pulling onto Panoramic Highway, you’re greeted with a sweeping vista to the left, the forested mountains falling gently towards the shore—dense thickets broken up here and there by smooth patches of grass. Beyond, the Pacific—its light blue fading into brilliant white as your eyes trace northwest. The resplendent ocean is darkened by but one spot—the shadow of an oblong cloud above, drifting slowly northward like a solitary battleship.

The road before you is the stuff of travel ads, a winding concrete strip splitting a narrow grassy ridge. The road itself is bisected by a blazing yellow line which glows warmly in the sunlight. Your eyes follow the divider onward, as it bends to the right and out of view behind a hillock.

It may be Sunday, and the vagaries of life may already be gathering at the edges of your mind’s eye—but you bid the worries tarry awhile and restart your engine. For now at least, your path follows the road’s.

Welcome to the Bay Area.