Driving Through the Redwoods

On a road trip down the California coast, my partner and I took a detour through the Avenue of the Giants, a thirty-mile road through ancient redwood forest.

We drove with the windows down at fifteen miles an hour. The trees were so tall I had to lean my head out the window to see the tops. The light came through in long golden beams. The air smelled like earth and rain.

We stopped at a grove and walked among trees that were alive when the Roman Empire was. I put my hand on one and felt so small, in the best way. A ranger told us some of them are more than two thousand years old.

Nobody spoke much that afternoon. We didn't need to. Some places make you quiet in a way that feels like a gift.