Sometimes things in life have a really interesting way of coming together.
In early February 2019, Chris and I took a trip to San Francisco. The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team was playing nearby in San Jose and I’d never been to California, so I went with him. Our flight out was first thing in the morning on January 31, putting us in San Fran around 11:00 a.m. We'd spend the rest of that day and the next sightseeing, hit up both the soccer game and the Sharks home game down in San Jose on February 2, and then fly home February 3.
Predictably, that’s not how things happened. There was a significant delay with our flight and we didn’t get out of Pittsburgh until 4:00 p.m. They ended up putting us on a direct flight rather than one with connections like we’d originally had, but it was already dark when we landed in San Francisco. We lost an entire day of sightseeing.
We had to eliminate some of the things each of us wanted to see (for me, sadly, that meant Alcatraz) and cram the rest into a full day on February 1. We had a rental car, so we went to Lombard Street, the Palace of Fine Arts, Fisherman’s Wharf, and the Painted Ladies. Chris wanted to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, so we did that. When we got to the other side, he mentioned a park he’d last visited as a kid, an old-growth coastal redwood forest, and asked if I minded giving it a try even though it was rainy. I’ve always felt a strong spiritual connection to trees and there’s sense of peace I get when I’m in the woods that I don’t get anywhere else, so I immediately said yes, rain be damned.
The park was Muir Woods, and it was easily my favorite part of the trip.
The next morning, as we were getting ready to head to San Jose for the soccer game, I happened to check my email on my phone and saw the announcement for the web special #712292 Muir Woods, a run of 350 pieces from the America the Beautiful Series, honoring National Parks across the U.S. He was released on February 1 - the same day I was in the real place.
That made him an instant must-have.
Given that I was already sentimentally attached, I was nervous that I wouldn’t get drawn for him. My luck with web special lotteries is abysmal. But the alignment of the universe that caused me to be in Muir Woods the day he was released must have still been at play, because I got picked for him from the first draw. He’s as gorgeous in person as he was in the promo photos. Every time I look at him, I think about the real place and how awesome it was to be there.
I also don't think it's a coincidence that my Sentimental Journey post was on tap for today, exactly seven years later.
Whenever the time comes to disperse my collection, he'll be one of the last to go.
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