the journey home . canon 5d mk II . oregon/california border

the hills steeped in rain . canon 5d mk II . oregon/california border

the clouds . canon 5d mk II . oregon/california border

oregon thanks you . canon 5d mk II . oregon/california border

the road back . canon 5d mk II . near the northern california border

mt shasta . canon 5d mk II . mt shasta, ca

a tree . canon 5d mk II . somewhere near redding, ca

the sacramento river & county line . canon 5d mk II . sacramento, ca

the delta king/old sacramento . canon 5d mk II . sacramento, ca

the sunsets i grew up with . canon 5d mk II . sacramento, ca

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A year ago today, I left for my solo road trip up and down the west coast – something that would change my life & in many ways, make me who I am today. In the past year I feel like I got a little older, a little wiser, a little more sure of who I am and a little happier. Well, maybe a lot happier. Things like this really do bring some clarity into your life. :)

This particular blog post is about my journey home though, and the new perspectives I’ve gained since taking that trip. You know, since it’s taken a whole year for me to even begin to finish blogging my road trip! ;)

I left Ashland that afternoon, ready to head back home, but I had to stop at another home before making the whole way down – the home I grew up in. It was actually a bit of a struggle to even go on this trip – imagine telling Asian parents that their only daughter wants to go on road trip all by herself for two weeks and drive over 2000 miles? Yea, I don’t think many Asian parents would be too keen on that, even if said daughter no longer live at her parent’s home.

On the journey down, my favorite spot had to be the Oregon/California border. It was on & off raining throughout the drive, which I thought was amazing because it transformed the landscape to this constant changing vista. At the border, I could see the hills beyond and I could see the rain falling in between the curves of the landscape. It was almost like steam coming off the hills. I also love Oregon’s goodbye sign too, and I had a moment to say goodbye for now to possibly my favorite state.

About 5 or 6 hours later, I reached Sacramento, where I decided to stop off at Old Sacramento to catch the gorgeous sunset that I was so used to seeing growing up. Sacramento still holds the place for the most vibrant sunsets that I have ever seen on a consistent basis. But I haven’t traveled too much, so I’m sure there are other places out there that have even more vibrant sunsets on a regular basis.

Upon going to my parent’s house, I was warmly greeted by my family, where my mother told me that she was so proud of what I had done. What? When I first told her, she harshly resisted the idea of me going, but here she was telling me that she was proud! In many ways, that in itself was worth the trip and the struggle it took for me to tell them, knowing that they would be very unhappy about it.

A lot of times I do think that many of the struggles we go through produce the greatest result – if I had never told my parents, they would never have had a reason to be proud of what I did. And believe me, I considered not telling them, just to spare the stress of the many arguments/conversations that we will have about it. But I wanted them to be a part of it, a part of my journey, and I’m extremely glad that I did. :)

Next up, my journey home to San Diego, my thoughts, and the clarity I gained.

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Previous road trip posts:
the beginning. | day one. | day two. | day three. | day four. | portland . the home. | portland . the city. | patrick’s point . film. |seattle . part one. | seattle . part two. | the man in the alley. | the road to ashland. | ashland . part one. | ashland . part two. |