California Grapeskins by Ed Ruscha
There is something about taking an extended drive that clears mental cloudiness. This weekend we daytripped up the coast to central California wine country and in the span of hours, had one of those long, satisfying, warm-lolling afternoons. Something wonderful happens when you're whizzing by breathtaking country; it basks in a hazy, sunshiny glow, raked through by the pleasure of being a snapshot in your mind. With Mumford & Sons' clear-headed melodies scoring the journey, and essential stops here and here that were the antithesis of the M-F grind, we drank in the bigness of the ocean and the dusty beauty of yellow meadows dotted with aged olive trees and it was all a little bit magical, at 75 miles per hour.
"The sun goes down long and red. All the magic names of the valley unrolled - Manteca, Madera, all the rest. Soon it got dusk, a grapy dusk, a purple dusk over tangerine groves and long melon fields; the sun the color of pressed grapes, slashed with burgundy red, the fields the color of love and Spanish mysteries. I stuck my head out the window and took deep breaths of the fragrant air. It was the most beautiful of all moments."
- On the Road by Jack Kerouac
P.S. Pay Ed Ruscha's exhibit at the Hammer Museum a visit this summer!
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