In the mid-1980’s, when my parents were looking for places to move in order to get our family out of Los Angeles, my mom had a dream. She dreamed that we were living someplace with views of a beautiful mountain. When she came to Portland for the first time, she was struck the tree-lined Sunset Highway, a freeway where the traffic actually moved and how polite and helpful everyone was. But most of all, she was stunned to find the beautiful views of mountains just like those she had seen in her dream.

When I was in college, I would drive the four hours from Portland to Walla Walla, WA and back once every couple of months. I always knew I was on my way back to school when I turned the bend in the road and could see the Firestone sign dwarfed in size by Mount Hood.

This weekend, my mom and I drove out that way to attend a Subud gathering at Menucha, a retreat center in the Columbia River Gorge. I was in the passenger seat of my family’s aging Nissan Quest, my camera in hand, to capture the view that was an integral part of my college experience. The mountain wasn’t out as much as I would have liked, but I love having a picture of it nonetheless.