[AllyOops!]

That was absolutely beautiful, CP. I really enjoyed reading your post and your descriptions put me in the moments you described. I could read your post over and over again.

The Great Outdoors makes me think of Yosemite. I spent a long Christmas Holiday weekend vacationing at the Awahnee in December, and it was absolutely breathtaking. The air was crisp and thin, and challenged my lungs. Witnessing what is truly God's country, and every wonderment created by Him, and the Heavens, soothed my weary and citified soul. Leaving my man-made, concrete frenzy never felt so good.

I'm a city girl. I thrive on controlled chaos and the noise that accompanies it. However, that weekend the heart I forever leave in Los Angeles I unknowingly packed with me, and I gave it freely to the beauty of Yosemite. The falling leaves from countless trees were as golden as the silence that I came to know and surprisingly love. The tiny gurgles pronounced from crystal streams born of melting snowcaps were as precious to me as if they were coming from a newborn baby. Bucks and does grazed sweetly in the fields that I hiked through, and I finally sat on the edge of a smooth rock overlooking a clear, glacial stream. So clear that I could count the slate and cinnamon coloured pebbles blanketing the sediment beneath the glassy waters. Parts of the stream were frozen from the icy, brittle December air, and I could see that the plant life below was encapsulated in time. Little shards of green being embraced by nature's frozen diamonds. Everything standing still until the air warmed once again.

Later, I strapped on my skates and twirled around on the ice. With the spellbinding awe that is half dome as my backdrop, I linked hands with my sweetheart until our noses and earlobes turned crimson, our legs rivaled butter and we were in desperate need of a roaring fire, each other's arms and hot brandied coffees.

And for the first time, nautre so took my breath away that it also brought tears to my eyes.

I can't wait until the day I return.