Before Chris and I moved into this house, I lived in a condo. It was a 4 story building, and I lived on the second floor.
The first floor was actually the basement, and that is where we parked our cars. It was also where we had a storage space. We kept a lot of stuff in the storage space.
I remember when Chris moved in, and I had to make room in the closet for not only him, but also all his business inventory. We discussed what could reasonably be put in the storage space, which was admittedly huge.
“Why don’t we put all our luggage in the storage space?” he said. “We don’t use it all the time, and when we need it, we can go down and get it.”
We put my luggage in the storage space. And then I always used his rolly bag when I had to go on a trip.
The thing was, the storage space just seemed outside of our path.
This is how I began to understand about human territories. Just like creatures in the woods, we have our trails we follow. And even if a certain thing is not far at all from our territory, we may still never go to see that thing. Because it’s ‘out of the way’.
And the storage space was out of the way. It just was.
This range of territory can be especially true in Los Angeles. This huge sprawling populated area is close to everything and far away from everything. When I lived in Los Feliz, Pasadena seemed very far away. It was not actually far away, but it seemed easier to get to Canter’s Deli than Vroman’s bookstore.
Los Feliz was more or less in the middle of things. But I do not live in the middle of L.A. anymore.
I live in Claremont. That’s definitely not the midle of Los Angeles. But it’s kind of in the middle of the populated area of Southern California.
Kind of.
But my new hometown, in combination with my new job, has widened my territory. I have to go to a lot of places not. There are a lot of places that are no longer out of the way.
I spend a lot of time on freeways.
Which brings me to my point:
Freeway are beautiful.
I mean really, These are amazing works of architecture. They soar, and often have 5 different levels of street. Each one has it’s own particularities.
It makes me think.
Remember the part in the Lord of the Rngs movie, where Aragorn and the fellowship of the ring are passing through the Valley of the Kings? These enormous statues of kings, carved out of the sides of mountain, loom over the group as they float on the river?
I feel similarly about these freeway overpasses. They are majestic.
And that leads me to think. How much money are we spending on these things? They are not cheap. And if we are already spending money on these extremely useful stuctures, why can’t we make them a little more beautiful?
Look at the photo I have included. It’s on highway 15, between L.A./Orange County and San Diego. I love that bridge. It’s gorgeous.
Why not do more of that?