The temperature starts rising as we head south. It's 6pm, but the sun gets stronger as we drive out of the fog into the valley. We exit our last mountain road curve and the rays of golden light illuminate the scenery before me. Blinded but smiling, I reach for my sunglasses.

Before we know it, night falls. We arrive and I head to bed.

The next morning, I catch a glimpse of the street from my bedroom window. A shed sits at the end of the driveway a couple feet away from the house. I go out to the backyard.

A lot awaits, full of newly planted trees and magic soil. The couple is gleaming of happiness at their new garden full of hope, full of growth, and full of pride. They lead me around. Figs, peaches, jujubes, pomegranates, apples, kiwi, grapes, cherries, jackfruit, lemons, grapefruits, berries — every local and exotic fruit you could imagine — in the form of buds and flowers sit on the tips of tree branches, patiently growing and waiting for their harvest.

We hop onto a golf cart and drive down the block to another orchard.

Along the way I admire the other houses in the neighborhood, surrounded by perfectly manicured lawns, gardens, and orchards.

We stop at a white picket fence.

Bags in hand, we walk to the first tree and reach for the dangling fruit.

I feel the velvet texture of the ripe peach and take a bite. Juice squirts in every direction but all I could feel was the taste of the sweet peach flesh. One hand dripping with peach juice, I reach for the next tree with the other.

We pluck the little spots of red. The cherries are tiny but just as tasty.

We crawl underneath a large grapefruit tree, pick the largest orange orbs you've ever seen, and roll them onto the lawn. The thick rinds bounce off each other ever so slightly, making a sound you can't help but laugh at.