#117 Driving down an old road with trees that touch and form a canopy over everything

Sunshine scatters in speckled shadows on pebble-coated roads as you cruise through the neighborhood on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Tufts of grass punch through asphalt cracks, rusty sewers clink under your wheels, and kids race down crumbly sidewalks on wobbly bikes. Shimmery rays of sunlight flash and gleam off basketball rims, side mirrors, and banana-colored fire hydrants with thick chipped paint. Above it all, tall trees twist their crooked skinny fists to heaven while spreading their leathery leafy arms up and over the world. As you pass through the leafy green tunnel winds whisper through jagged branches, squirrels jump across tree tops, and everything zooms out as your world suddenly … stops.

AWESOME!

The Book of (Holiday) Awesome comes out next week! Check out The Book of Awesome (18 months on the bestseller list!) and The Book of (Even More) Awesome as well!

Photo from: here

38 thoughts to “#117 Driving down an old road with trees that touch and form a canopy over everything”

  1. I love this! If I were to write an ode of gratitude to that green canopy it would be very cheesy, but it might sound something like this:

    Thank you protective green canopy
    for accompanying me on my ride home
    it’s all the better for your being here

  2. My parents moved us into our home town nearly 25 years ago, when several housing developments were being built. The trees were all so small back then, but many of them are just now starting to intertwine, especially on the parkways near where my wife and I live. I’ve always loved the sight when I come across it while out of town, yet it has come so gradually to my own neighborhood that I hardly even noticed. This was just the reminder I needed to look around and appreciate some of the awesome right around me.

  3. I was driving to an exam today and, being mildly freaked out, I wasn’t paying any attention to the scenery.

    Driving home, chill and relaxed, I noticed that thr trees have thickly grown their summer leaves, green and gorgeous.

    Aussie Spring FTW! :D

  4. My alma mater university has this very lane, and its my favorite avenue to drive along especially when the sunlight seeps through the leaves around 7am each day. A smile just forms across my face. It makes you feel like the whole world is just right.

  5. we have a road that does that here in the comox valley. Road is actually the logging road, and there are sections they’ve closed that is now only used for pedestrians or cyclists, and I can just imagine how much the trees have created a tunnel there, but in some places you can still drive, and in summer it’s like driving through a tunnel, it’s so overgrown. Really kind of cool.
    Which brings me to another kind of awesome… I do deliveries in one of my jobs, food, beer, etc. One night a few weeks ago I deliver to this place with, I swear, almost a 2km driveway. It was dark, and the driveway is lined with all these old, big trees. Every 200 m or so he has “No Trespassing” signs, “you have been warned”, one has a picture of someone holding a shotgun, I mean, talk about creepy! Near the end, I start to see these OLD cars in the trees. I mean, rusted out old hulks of cars from the “50’s, with moss overgrown on them, and there were about a dozen, that I could see. Remember, it’s night time, and DARK. I finally come out of this creepy driveway and deliver this guys food. I mention it to my dispatcher, who says, yeah, he’s been out there in the daytime, the land owner is this artist who has this project going for years, where he intentionally has the cars and stuff, (hubcaps, tires, car parts,) set up a certain way, then purposely lets the foilage grow in and around it. He even tied an old motorcycle to a tree and allowed stuff to grow in and around it, before untying it and allowing the foilage to hold it up. I really wish I had seen it in the daytime, and his “living” art isn’t really for public showing. Hence all the creepy “no trespassing” signs.

  6. I once traveled down a road covered in a canopy of flame trees (gulmohar trees) which are have orangy-red folliage and it was amazing! Tree canopies rock!

  7. We have a trail here that looks just like your picture of the trees touching and I just love it as it reminds me of where I grow up:) I wish you were coming to Orillia, ON.:) I am really enjoying your first book. Thank you so much and keep writing:)

  8. I LOVE THIS

    We went to a winery a couple weekends ago and it was tucked way away on some country roads that lead to practically gravel alleys. The last leg of the journey consisted of amazingly gorgeous tree-canopied roads — perfect mix of autumn-colored leaves, perfect amount of sunshine piercing through, perfect winding and twisting roads. It was so awesome, in fact, that we were really disappointed we left after dark, since it meant we wouldn’t be enjoying that view on our way out.

  9. I’ve a favorite in town, near a park and an old church. We were just down this road the other day for a yard sale. I shared how I dreamed of living on this nestled street. Feels so safe for some reason: Trees are ever rooted, hanging on to one-another and ever reaching toward the heavens.
    Oh, my very favorite kind of road, I never want to zoom out of. The experience for me, in its purest translation, the supreme moment~Kairos

  10. I love this so much!

    Years ago I used to drive down a road like this on my commute. It was short and had an elbow curve. Right at the sharpest part of the curve, the shady tree cover opened up on the inside to reveal a farm field, with the setting sun behind it (not quite sunset, but a low, bright sun), then as soon as you passed it you were back in the tree canopy. It was awesome on top of awesome. Every time I passed it I would look over and imagine a choir of voices singing “AAAHH” just for that moment and then cut out as soon as the sun disappeared again. :)

      1. I was always alone when I drove through it; I wish I could share the picture in my mind with other people. Unfortunately, the land has since been developed so all I have is the memory.

        1. You painted a gorgeous visual!
          Took me back to some fond places and times in B.C. and this song~
          Thank you:)

          1. You’re welcome! That’s a great song (which is actually called “In My Life”, in case you don’t already know). I love The Beatles. :)

  11. I. Love. This. One. So. Much.
    Literally, my heart lurched when I saw the title. When geekteen was a geektoddler, she named these “tree tunnels” and we always made a big deal when going “through” one. I love how the light inside them is green, and you just feel like you’re somewhere magical.

    Thanks everyone for all the great descriptions of your favourite tree tunnels. They’re all Awesome!

  12. I live on one of these streets!! The huge Brandom Elms look absolutely gorgeous in the winter-time when that spiky delicate frost glues itself to everything, especially the trees.

  13. I absolutely love this. It’s hauntingly beautiful. Anyone been to Toowoomba in QLD, Australia? Some of their roads are like this.

    HAWSUM!

  14. I really love love love this one!! When I drive to my fiance’s house in the fall time, the trees turn a beautiful gold! It’s like driving down a hall of gold. Honestly the most beautiful thing ever.

  15. We recently moved to Winnipeg (insert joke here…!) and were lucky enough to find a home on one of the amazing elm-lined streets in a lovely neighbourhood called River Heights that has the most incredible canopies. Even now, after all the leaves are gone, the huge branches still provide a gorgeous arch that helps make every day beautiful. It really is awesome to behold.

  16. This is fantastic, yes, but as I think about the weather we’ve had in the midwest here the past few days, I’m thankful for —new windshield wipers! I’m surprised that’s not made the list yet! There’s nothing better than wipers that make no noise, but sweep perfectly across your windshield to remind you that no, your eyesight is not getting blurrier. It’s just the rain (or snow).

  17. I love this. There is a route to my apartment I like to take because of the tree canopy and now the leaves are pretty fall colors and it’s even more pretty, especially as the sun is setting.
    One night,I saw an owl swoop above my car, from one side of the canopy to the other. I’m pretty sure I gasped =p. It was beautiful.

  18. Don Valley Parkway, Neil!
    The route onto Lions Gate Bridge for those of you in Vancouver.
    It’s like paradise.

  19. It’s a wonder of nature and it makes me speechless… I love everything about trees, but this is AWESOME.

  20. I get to drive a road like this every morning on the way to my university. The best part? My dad works at my school, so he drives, and I get to spend the ride absorbing the scenery! <3

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