A Well-Spent Day on The Ridge

This is the farm where my Grampa (my mom's dad) was born and raised. I love this place not only for the special place it has in my family and for the time that we spent there when I was growing up, but also for the sheer beauty of its imperial location. We say, it's "on the ridge."

I'm admitting right now that I am not familiar enough with the topography of our country; save for the obvious, stand-out landmarks; to know whether this is entirely unique to just our area or not. But I think it is. We once had glaciers here, so that has left us with some pretty amazing and interesting places to explore.

Traveling on country roads and making trips to the ridge was something that we did a lot with mom when we were kids. Mainly, I think, because her uncle was running that farm at the time and her sister also lived on the ridge. So we'd go to go visiting them, but I think there was probably some sentimental value for her in taking trips up there---like there is for me now.

So that's how I decided to spend my mother's birthday a couple of weeks ago.

First, I went to the store and got some flowers and a special birthday treat (her favorite, raspberry-filled bismarks). Then I went to the cemetery, a place I do not enjoy visiting.

From there I went to visit my grandparents (my mom's parents). I always feel like it's nice for us to share at least a part of her birthday together. We enjoyed the doughnuts together and that's the remainder of the bouquet. Ever practical, I thought it'd be a little silly to leave them all in the snow when Gramma could and would enjoy them. And I know mom wouldn't mind sharing and would support that decision/line of thinking. (She's responsible for teaching me to be this way, after all.)

From there I drove up to the ridge to my mother's sister's house. She's also my Godmother. We did a little thrift-shop and yarn-shop shopping together and then had lunch at our fav sandwich shop, The Cheese Corner.

We also had a nice time together and always enjoy spending some of mom's birthday together, too. Then it was time for Cuddlebug and I to go home to rejoin the rest of our family. Since it was the day that it was and since our new camera had arrived the day before, I decided to take the scenic way home.

This is a classic view when you're on the ridge.

I love driving these roads. It makes me feel good memorywise, but it's also just very fun. (Especially if you're a fast driver like me.) They're curvy, sometimes rollercoastery, and peppered with farms. The views are spectacular, although, I'm not sure that comes through all that well in these photos. Being that it was an overcast winter day, to me, they seem a little lackluster, compared to what it's usually like.

The farm picture shown in the beginning and the scenic picture in my banner were also taken on the way home that day. This is a view of the ridge from the bottom, just a few miles away from where we live.

I almost forgot. I lived on that farm for a time when I was a baby. My mom and dad and I lived in the white house; my dad was farming for my great uncle at that time. (Uncle Will lived in the yellow house on the left.)

Maybe one day I'll get to live on the ridge again. It's always a little cooler up there and there's always a breeze (or a wind). Some people don't like the ridge because that's worse in the winter and there's drifting, etc, but it's heavenly in the summer and it carries away the mosquitoes. What more could you ask for?

Having mom here to enjoy it with.

I wish you were here, mom.
I love you.