This is one of my favorite photos from a mountain retreat my middle child and I took the fall of 2014. It was a rather stressful time for both of us, but since we were homeschooling and had the freedom for a spur-of-the-moment excursion, we jumped in the minivan and drove three hours to a KOA cabin in the Shenandoah Valley, not far from Skyline Drive. It was a very relaxing time for both of us. We did some things together, and other things on our own, and we took turns choosing our together-activities. I won’t say we are inseparably close today, but there was some bonding formed as a result of our long-weekend getaway.

To capture this photo, I had to rise before dawn and drive for about an hour. Needless to say, this was one of my solo activities, as my son is not fond of rising before the sun, unless it’s to go hunting. To be honest, neither am I. Perhaps that’s why I like the photo so much—because it’s a rare one for me, and it required a certain degree of effort to obtain.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Elemental—Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. All of them seem to come together in this one scene as the air stirs the watery mist around the bumpy earth until the sun’s heat burns it off. For a moment the beauty lingers, then you blink and it is gone.

James 4:14 Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

Photo taken along Skyline Drive, Virginia, 2014.