In this episode of James in his Jeep getting Java, I took a road trip to Deep Cove. It’s unseasonably warm (+8C when I was there, +11C in some parts as I drove home) and very misty in the mountains. A song of note that played on the radio was “Magic” by the Cars, the only song that played that I listened to in its entirety. (See video at end of blog post.)

One of the things I keep in mind when going on a road trip, is that the destination is not what is important. Truth is, I had a much different trip planned for today, but due to circumstances I had to change those plans. Change is good. Change is okay. After all, what makes a good road trip are the places you see along the way. Where you go is just a place to point your vehicle, it is not the most important part of the trip.

First, Deep Cove. This is a great place if you like mountain trails and hiking, which I do not. It is quite scenic just walking along the shore, even on a day like today when the fog has rolled in over much of the view. I enjoy leisure, and walks that don’t require a lot of work where my focus becomes, “Oh my word, I have to do this intense trail AGAIN to get out of here.” Thankfully, I have friends who do enjoy that sort of thing so I get to enjoy the photos of the places they venture to see.

The way I like to travel is this:

I walked out onto the dock to get a good shot of the view, and was told by a family that there were jellyfish in the water. I attempted to get a picture of them, but they were so clear that they never showed up in any of the shots I took.

So, this is Deep Cove. Incidentally, this is where the TV series Cedar Cove is filmed. It’s an amazing place, so I can see why they chose it.

Here we have a view of the street, and the cafe that I sat in for part of my morning. It was very, very busy both inside and out. I assumed that doughnuts were their specialty, so I had a chocolate one with my cappuccino. The doughnut was okay, but it was the drink that was exceptional. There was no wi-fi so I wound up writing in my notebook – not such a bad thing. The conversations around me varied from languages I couldn’t understand, to tourists discussing everything they’d seen, to local moms comparing babytime programs. (I came close to suggesting they make the trip to Richmond Public Library for our babytime. I didn’t.)

This was a great day, but being that it was so misty I didn’t feel much up to walking about any more than I had. of course, as I drove off, the fog began to lift. This gave me an opportunity to check out a park I had passed on the way there, Cates Park.

I loved this place more than I did Deep Cove. As I meandered about along the beach, I thought about how great it would be to take my nephew here for swimming the next time he visits, or meet my Scooby Gang here for a picnic (but we’re adults, with adult schedules, so that’s unlikely to happen), or in the spring when it warms up to bring Conan here for a walk.

I spent a good portion of my morning sitting on a bench, enjoying the water and sun and people and Nature RX.

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Best of all, come summer time, there’s even a burger place at this beach to check out! All in all, this was an amazing road trip – though it was not the one I had planned. But as people sometimes say, though it was not the one I had planned it turned out to be the one I needed.

And in case you want to hear the theme song for this trip, here it is: