Winter Rant

Unexpected shots of lush green mountains and cloud covers while traveling east of California’s Bay Area

This weekend, I decided to visit some family on the eastern limits of what is otherwise known as the Bay Area or Silicon Valley. During the trip, I got a bunch of breathtaking pictures — with my iPhone 12mini — from the passenger seat. It all started with the cloud cover over the bay, as while crossing the San Mateo Bridge.

I usually visit this neck of the valley during summer — when the hills are brown and barren. So, imagine my surprise when I saw lush green hills with some excellent tree cover! 🌳

We are still getting out of a chilly and wet winter in the Bay Area — so the greenery did make sense in retrospect. I was saddened to think that these parts often get embroiled in forest fires during California’s Fire Season.

But these views had a way to melt my sorrow. The lush green hilltops with the windmills just took my breath away, with the cotton-esque clouds adding to the beauty of this scene. Also, who says that windmills are an eyesore? My wife was kind enough to remind me of that classic Windows XP wallpaper when she saw this picture. 😅

More importantly, the picture above represents (to me) a synergy between the natural and the man-made: clean energy generated atop green hills on a lovely sunny day. The world needs more of this.

Despite a constant cloud cover, the Sun continued to dazzle through out the trip, and made it a beautiful day to travel (after a long time). I hope I get to do more of this in the months to come.