A cup of coffee with a view

After a Fall of wallowing in what felt like failure, in a place that I no longer knew and that no longer knew me, I decided to make the best of my situation. Unemployment does not have to be necessarily unproductive and an area, once familiar, now foreign does not have to remain as such. So I've forced myself out, riding and running old routes and newer trails, and checking out new businesses and hangouts. This week I tried out a nearby cafe on a ride around town. Unseasonable warmth had me enjoying the table out front, and a sunny view of a downtown drag.

It got me thinking of all the coffee spots I hit up this past year and all their drastically different views, how they corresponded with my own views at that time.

From my favorite basement gourmet shop with a stunted vista, to a familiar chain on a bluff overlooking hill country, to a place on main at 9,000' looking out even higher, then finally bringing a new year in, appropriately on New Street, a look at an old home.

Beyond places to enjoy a cup of joe, they were places to soak in all that was going on in my life at that time, to escape it, and to reflect upon it. In them, or just outside, they were attached to a number of particularly poignant memories in their own right. A staging point for last New Years adventures with a good friend, watching the power of a Texas t-storm light up the night sky, enjoying libations and music well after hours with a new confidant. Looking back, they acted as points in time and space to grasp where I was, with all that that means.

I look forward to adding to the list in the coming months. Moving yet again to a new state, I wonder what the view will be drinking coffee in Toccoa, GA.