Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Dawn Treader chose "Life in the Clouds".....

Life among the clouds would be wonderful...above the clouds it is always a sunny day.

In 2005, my son and I took a road trip to Denver to see an Eric Clapton concert. While we were there, we made the trip to the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a perfect day to see the majesty of the Rockies. A front was moving through the area and the cloud formations with the vistas of the National Park as a background was stunning!

My first memory of the mountains as a child was on a trip to the Smokies. My first plane flight was at the age of 21 so as a child I had never yet flown. On the drive through the mountains...we suddenly were immersed in what I thought was a fog bank. My dad looked back at me in the rear view mirror and said..."right now we are actually driving through the clouds". As a wide eyed youth with an over active imagination, I was thrust into a whole world of at once...disbelief and wonderment. The idea of actually being in a cloud was thrilling. Once we emerged, I looked over my shoulder at a landscape far below partially covered by cotton candy clouds as far as the eye could see.

On that trip with my son, those feelings came back to me and I wondered if he would have the same thoughts years down the road. Those types of thoughts were on my mind anyway...thoughts of my son's passing youth and coming of age...this was his last summer at home...in one month he was going away to college. The trip created lasting memories for both of us...conversations about goals, making correct decisions, keeping the eye focused on studies first and women second, things not do do like I did in the 60's were all part of our time together. He suffered through my time worn stories about college in the late 60's and I suffered through his stories about the latest heavy metal group...but after the trip...we both learned things about each other that we did not know before.

The clouds inspired us and Clapton exploded onto the stage...music that we both identified with.

Common ground was found.

18 comments:

Sunny said...

Amazing photo and such wonderful memories.
Sunny :)

Dan Felstead said...

Thank you Sunny....hope you have a great week.

Dan

shabby girl said...

Wouldn't that photograph make a fantastic mural? Wow! I would get lost in it everyday.
I'm reading Eric Clapton's autobiography right now. I'm only about a quarter of the way through; he has just left John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers to join up with Ginger & Jack. I'm sure it will be a very interesting story!

septembermom said...

Eric Clapton is awesome. How nice that you and your son share a love a music. It must be fun hanging out and hearing you guys sing your favorites on a road trip :) The photo is fantastic, gorgeous.

Dan Felstead said...

Shabbygirl...Ahh...Ginger and Jack...the beginnings of Cream! What a sound three guys could put out!

Dan

Dan Felstead said...

Septembermom...yes...it was like the male version of Thelma and Louise...thankfully we didn't get in as much trouble!

Dan

DawnTreader said...

Wonderful photo. I haven't travelled all that much but I have actually once (1990) had that experience of going through and above the clouds, on a bus tour in the Austrian Alps. It really was a special feeling. (My photos from that trip are all slides and they're in a big box down in my basement storage room since my move last year...)

Dan Felstead said...

Dawn Treader...the first time through a cloud is an experience you will always remember...at least I do!

Slides are the most time consuming and difficult to take from the positive film and scan into a computer.

Dan

Lynda Lehmann said...

What great memories and a great shared trip!

I haven't even spoken to our daughter of most of my experience of the 60s, but one day I shall. It was an interesting and tumultuous time, as you know. I was at Penn State and I can tell you, a lot of what I saw "blew my mind."

I'm glad you had this time with your son. The photo is breathtaking and I share your fascination with being above the clouds!

Dan Felstead said...

Lynda...I think anyone who went through that time in college has "skeletons"in their closet!

Thanks for the comment on the photo.

Dan

Heather said...

Holy cow, Dan - this photo is AMAZING! Everything about it just speaks to me in ways you could not imagine.

Or maybe you can imagine - better than most anyone else, because we both share the same love for this type of landscape, don't we?

Beautifully done.

Dan Felstead said...

Heather...yes we do...These mountains are on the other end of the spectrum from the Smokies...both are beautiful but in totally different ways.

Dan

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous scene! It would have been great to see you in a cowboy hat, stone-washed jeans and blue denim shirt right there in the middle of it all like the Marlboro Man. Also, I admire the fact that you spent personal man-time with your son. Something I'm sure each of you will treasure always. A great story. Thanks for sharing.

Dan Felstead said...

Pura...as a matter of fact I had just gotten off my horse to take the photo! Just kidding of course.

It was great time with Zach...there is only that one shot with them the summer before they leave the nest and head off to college...so I grabbed it...never regretted it.

Dan

Sunny said...

I found it quite interesting in the different pictures that we chose. Quite a diversified following you have.
Happy New Year.
Sunny :)

Dan Felstead said...

Sunny...It was interesting...the choices. I guess that is what makes the world go round!

Dan

DawnTreader said...

It was interesting to see what pictures the other winners chose. I think it also says something about the photographer's ability to capture a very wide range of subjects! ;) It was not an easy task to choose one favourite picture; there were several quite different ones that came to mind for me when I started to think about it... But I'm very happy with the choice I made!

septembermom said...

The peacefulness here is really transporting. Awesome photo!