heading up to cape cod (page 247)

We drive the scenic route much of the way, sticking to the road that parallels the Delaware River. The leaves haven’t turned yet. It’s October 19th, and I’m panicked, despairing that we have traveled so far, all the way back East for Alice’s one trip of a lifetime, and here we are—too damned early for the changing of the colors. I’ll just have to open a vein if she misses it.

Nevertheless, the rolling eastern Pennsylvania countryside stuns with its wet, green, and shiny beauty. A look decidedly darker than the golden appearance of California, punctuating the fact that the East Coast lies farther from the sun as we orbit. The landscape’s muted wash has much to do with this different quality of light as well as the density of the wooded country. Maybe the darker tones of the land owe some of its character to the underlying slate and granite, as if the bedrock informs coloration to the soil and on into the foliage and tree trunks. The outcroppings of rock are many, black and glittery, streaked of orange iron oxide, overall affording an impression of subdued gray, umber, and emerald green.