This post is for the #wednesdaywalk challenge and the #makemesmile challenge collaboration. This collaboration initially took place once a month, but due to its popularity, @tattoodjay (of the #wednesdaywalk) and @elizacheng (of #makemesmile) decided to make it a weekly thing.
If you want to know more about the rules, visit last week's post by @tattoodjay where you will find all the rules at the bottom of his post after you've enjoyed his beautiful photos from his walk.
You may have noticed that I wasn't active on Hive over the last few weeks. As a family, we were dealing with a crisis.
Over the last few years, my mother-in-law's health has deteriorated after she was diagnosed with dementia.
Then, about three weeks ago, she ended up in I.C.U. due to heart failure. We packed and started the 6-hour journey to Johannesburg with no immediate flights available.
We spent some time in Johannesburg. When it looked like there was improvement and her situation stabilized, we returned to Durban since we left in such a hurry and had a lot to attend to.
We were only back for a few days when the news came through that things made a turn for the worse again. Shortly after that call, we received the terrible news that my mother-in-law had passed away.
So, we made our second trip to Johannesburg in less than 13 days.
We only returned home toward the end of last week.
On the way back, my wife and I decided to take turns driving. My wife prefers driving on flat, straight roads, while I like to drive once we get to the more winding roads going through the more mountainous areas from about the halfway mark.
While my wife was driving, I started looking for something to do and I took my mobile phone and started playing around by taking some shots while driving on the freeway.
For the next shot, I was just relaxed and took this photo while sitting back, not expecting much from this shot. Yet, when looking at it, I like the way it came out.
I noticed the beautiful clouds in the rearview mirror. I decided to start playing around and see if I could capture the effect of the reflections in the mirror and windows. You can see it in the next two shots.
Three hours into the trip, we pulled over at Harrismith. I would take over the driving from here.
But before I got behind the wheel, I took a short walk and took some photos of the area.
We stopped at the Engen Bergview One Stop, which is a popular place to stop over, and it is halfway between Durban and Johannesburg.
There is a service station to fill up the vehicle and do all the necessary checks. There are also some nice curio shops, one antique dealer, restaurants, etc...
I liked the SEATTLE COFFEE Co., which is next to The Guinea Fowl, where they sell various homemade products. One of the main attractions in the product lines is biltong, something South Africa is popular for!
I walked around to the back of these buildings where I found a SPUR outlet with a nice play area for the little ones.
If you look at the photo of the SEATTLE COFFEE Co. again, you can see a mountain in the background.
Standing in the parking area of the SPUR, at the furthest end on the outskirts of the venue, I had a nice view of this mountain.
Changing my position, I got this view where I could include these two beautiful trees to complete the picture.
And that's it for today, folks.
Thank you for reading my post! I do appreciate it!
-