Anniversary Day Trip the Weather Starting Out

Anniversary Day Trip

The weather starting out on our trip to White mountain was dark and ominous. I remember the two of us joking as we were packing the car that morning before we headed out. It was mid-morning and on a normal day, they sun would be out, the sky would be blue. Typical spring weather is what we expected to be traveling with but on this day, they sky was so dark, it seem like late evening. The air was slightly cool and there was a slow breeze that was very nice blowing. In the distance, lightening danced ever few minutes we could hear a distant roll of thunder. It was a gloomy beginning to what was going to be a day trip -- just the two of us -- in celebration of our seventh anniversary.

The rain was light and we were grateful as we hurriedly packed the car. I'm sure you've heard the expression the sky looked as though the bottom was about to fall out and this morning was the perfect example of this kind of sky. It was solid grey from one edge to the other. The shades of grey varied from very dark grey in the middle of the sky to lighter shades of grey above and below that band. White clouds drifted below and in front of the darker clouds like strays. We knew we had only a few minutes before the rain arrived and we were moving quickly to avoid getting wet. We made it within a few minutes and by the time we were on the freeway, the sky was darker and the rain was coming down so hard, we could barely hear ourselves talking in the car.

As we settled in for what was a few hours in the car, we drove all around brilliant lightening bolts and sped through dark clouds of rain and thunder. We drove for what seemed like hours this way. The rain fell so hard sometimes that Ray had to slow down to 30 miles per hour on the freeway. After about an hour of this, we eventually drove our way out of the heavy rain into a light drizzle. The sky was a lighter grey and the traffic on the freeway was moving at a decent pace. Finally, we drove out of the rain and the clouds lifted more. We rolled the windows down for some fresh air and I remember it was amazing. It was cool and refreshing as it blew in the windows. I closed my eyes and let it hit me in the face as I breathed it in. I took this as a sign that the rest of our journey to White Mountain was going to be wonderful.

When we were within a few miles of the mountain, Roy played our song, "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters. Just hearing this song takes me back years to when Roy and I first met. This song was so popular when we started dating and it brings back so many memories of our many day trips together. The road up to the top of the mountain is curvy and our ears begin to pop but in those moments, I am filled with anticipation because we are about to embark on another day of hiking and I know it is going to be great.

Just as we hoped, the skies were perfectly clear by the time we started going up the mountain. In fact, it was astonishing to look out and not see one cloud in the sky. We listened to the song over and over as the car made its curvy way up to the top of the mountain. When we arrived in the parking lot on the west side of the mountain, we were thrilled to see our car was the only one in the parking lot. When we opened the doors, it was another good sign that we were going to have an awesome day because the temperature was perfect and even the birds were singing to greet us.