A Walk in the Clouds

It might sound to be a romantic anecdote but its nothing of that sort. Its literal to its core. I recently had a walk in the clouds. All I could wish was it to be romantic.

California is famous for its sun, its skies and its summer. But it had rained the most in a century to welcome me in the state. A perpetual drizzling dark gray weather was the least I was expecting and that made my all my enthusiam go gray. Without a car, all I could manage to do during my first week was do nothing. And then it was the weekend. One of my friend was taking me to San Francisco. It was finally sunny in San Jose.

something else in stoWe took the US-280 from San Jose to San Francisco. It was rated to be one of the most beautiful highways and it was so. A turning and twisting highway surrounded by green slopy lands with colourful flower beds and beautiful dwellings was just mesmerising. But the rain gods hadre for us. When we reached San Francisco and were about to disembark at the Fisherman's Wharf, it started raining. It was pretty evident that it was waiting for us. But all in fun's name. After the famous sea-food and Ghirardelli's chocolate, it was time for the Golden Gate. The breathtaking view of the gate from the high viewpoints on the adjoining mountains was simply superb but the chilling sea wind evoked an undeniable urge for chai and pakode (You cannot forget India). Then we crossed the extremely slopy streets of San Francisco (and the curved Lombard Street too) to head to Berkeley, a much smaller but cozier town on the outskirts of San Francisco but equally famous for obvious reasons.

The whole of next week was sunny and spent in shopping and meeting friends. The clear blue skies had already filled my heart with unaccountable joy. But the best of the trip was still to come. The walk in the clouds.



The second weekend, I went to Santa Barbara just to meet up with a friend. Santa Barbara is a unique town with mountains on one side and sea on the other. We embarked on a drive to the Gilbartar rock, somewhere in the mountain. But as we started ascending the mountains, with the sea evidently visible in the far, it was cloudy again. But as we went higher, we touched the clouds. The place was not only mesmerizing but the calmness made it simply divine. The austere beauty of the green mountains and the white cloud scattered on them just took my breath away. We drove through and above the clouds for an hour and each moment was filled with awe. It was my walk in the clouds.

Everybody had suggested, and I am thankful that they did, to take the Amtrek train back to San Jose. The rail track has the infinite blue waters of the Pacific on one side and the green mountains, with clouds dispersing their shadows on them, on the other. The 35 mile stretch with clear blue sky, finally, was outstanding. The reddish grass and the flowery patches just merged into the golden sand to create a pallette of its own. And the yellow flowery patches on the mountains were no less in creating their own colours.