Seattle,Olympic Peninsula 9/9-19/10

We are on the west coast! We touched the Pacific in beautiful Ruby beach in the Olympic Peninsula and danced a celebration of our coast-to-coast journey. We first arrived in the Seattle area to visit Kule's brother Joel , his wife Karen and their son Gary. We've thoroughly enjoyed our time with them, touring the city, eating great food, and being in the beautiful nature surrounding Seattle, including Snoqualmie Falls and the Washington Lake locks and salmon ladders.

The Pacific Northwest is magical........very wet, but magical! Camping in the rain was a joy in this lush rainforest. Kule got to use his Finnish hand grenade cooker, and we feasted and had an adventure making our way in th dark to a cold bath in the lake over slippery driftwood logs.

This is the land of the Quinault Indian Nation, th land of the giant trees - the Douglas fir, the cedar, the Sitka. We camped next to a sacred Sitka tree, and visited the largest Sitka in the world, a wise 1000 yr. old grandmother tree.

We met the goddess of the giant cedar. Even the fallen trees, laden with moss and bare root, are beautiful homes to the wildlife, including the great gray slug.

Before we left the Peninsula we got to see the salmon jumping in the cascades (see video below) , and we soaked ourselves in the soothing Sol Duc Hotsprings.

The forest was enchanted, and so were we.

We visited two intentional communties on the way to Orcas Island (where we are now visiting our dear friends Ben, Noah, and Samara). One was in Olympia, a funky old town with a great country marketplace full of hand-made goods - I got a wooden bowl made with love by Larry! The co-housing in Olympia called Woodard Lane is shown below; it's new, and in a very nice wooded location in the city (nature is so close to cities here!)  The houses are beautiful, and more expensive than I would have imagined (although not as pricey as Ipswich). We also visited the Port Townsend Ecovillage in another great city spot with organic farmland. The co-founder of that IC, Kees, studied with the co-founder of Earthhaven (Diana Christian). Everyone's learning from each other how to set up the legal structures to code; it's inspiring.
We'll visit more ICs in Washington and Oregon for sure. We could see living in the area, but not ready to make any decisions yet; still got the travel bug!

Yellowstone and Grand Teton - Wyoming, Idaho, Montana - 9/4-7/10

Yellowstone/GrandTeton – Wyoming, Idaho, Montana – 9/4-7/10


Magnificence and awe.

Tears welcomed me to Yellowstone. Tears of gratitude that we can experience this expanse of untouched land and wildlife, with natural wonders. Our first grand vista was Tower Falls, just past our rustic cabin at Roosevelt Lodge. (We received a warm free-chocolate birthday cake welcome at the lodge on our arrival at 10 PM the night before!)

The weather changes are as wild as the landscape. We could barely stay standing on Mt. Washburn!

It’s clear how Artist Point got its name at Canyon. The Falls are spectacular, and the colors of the cliffs add to the splendor. Sitting atop at Upper Falls and feeling the power of the water reminded me of my visit to Iguazu Falls with Jason and my sister Mariana 4 years ago; I feel Jason’s presence so strongly at times like this.

We got a respite from the crowds sitting (carefully) on top of a landslide cliff, the perfect meditation spot.

And yes, we did spot a grizzly. And yes, we were in the car along with a traffic jam, all trying to get a camera shot of the cute “little” bear. I guess we were one of the lucky ones!

We also saw several bison, elk, bald eagle, osprey, and some large prehistoric-looking waterfowl. One buffalo was so close to the car as we droveslowly by, I got nervous (as in Badlands). As I took the video, the non-agitated and presumably very relaxed buffalo proceeded to defecate. I would have had a priceless video but it didn’t take – got one last photo out of it (you can imagine the rest!)

And of course there are geysers galore. Our favorite spot was Norris. The geysers were more active than usual; a chemical phenomenon of mixing an acidic layer with neutral water added extra heat to the geysers and we got to see usually calm geysers acting up. This photo on the left was taken during a snow storm in Mammoth hot springs.

The next morning, Yellowstone was clad in white. We were appreciating the wood stove in our cabin, the “buffalo chip” wood, and extra sleeping bag that night!

Our new friends Ric and Richard (R&R) from Georgia let us know the Canyon pass was closed due to the snowstorm, saving us an hour backtracking on the way to Old Faithful. Last night we shared a wonderful meal, wine, and great conversation about community in their small town.

We will remember this next image as the river where we lost our car key. It was found again after a long search (it was in the car, nothing too exciting), but we swear we lost our thinking faculty walking through this wonderland. Another great meditation spot!

The river of the lost key

Old Faithful is the icon of Yellowstone, and it is truly amazing how it is so predictable; we got to see two eruptions 90 minutes apart, before and after our fully-satisfying meal at the Yellowstone Inn.

The Inn got more camera shots than the geysers; a man-made wonder of natural timbers.

Leaving Yellowstone would have been sadder if we didn’t have the Grand Teton National Park awaiting us across the border. So much beauty everywhere, and a more peaceful energy than Yellowstone.

We received a wonderful farewell from a family of moose in Moose (don’t they know how to name their towns). A row of camera-eyed humans and park ranger lined up across the stream gave us the tip. We hit the jackpot with a buck, his cow and calf. The park ranger warned us to get ready to leave if they got agitated; they were much closer than I could have imagined being.

After a wonderful organic dinner and "happy tea" at the Lotus Café, a night’s stay in Jackson Village’s hostel and a morning welcome from hot air balloons and mountain-launched parasailers, we headed across Idaho and Montana toward Washington. We celebrated Kule's now having been in all of the lower 48 states! We had to take a classic photo from each state – guess which is which. Yes, we did pass many potato fields in Idaho! We even stopped at an opal mining town (Spencer) and ate at a former one-room schoolhouse turned restaurant in Dell called the Calf-A!

As we left the wilderness, we got some nice shots of the Snake River… Later on, Kule was also excited to pass the exit to Glacier National Park, reminiscing about a high school wilderness trip he did with his brothers and friends.

To get to Washington we passed Idaho twice, with a stretch of Montana in-between, giving us the chance to briefly visit the hip town of Missoula. We enjoyed the huge whole foods store there. Since it is so cold there in the winter, we didn’t take more time to explore it, but it seems like a great town. We stayed in another hip artsy lake-resort town, Coeur d’Elain, Idaho, where we spent the night. We woke up to drive over the border into our last state, Washington, where we are now visiting Kule’s brother Joel and his wife Karen. It’s so nice to be welcomed into a home again! Next blog - Seattle....

S. Dakota – Badlands and Buffalo – 9/2-3/10

Over 100 yrs ago homesteaders came to these wild and windy plains from all over the world to claim their piece of land only to find out that much didn’t survive over the winters. The Badlands were good to us, though – beautiful sunny weather perfect for walking in the wild. Thanks, Lewis and Clark, for your explorations here. This is big sky country.

We were lucky to get cabin reservations at Badlands (and Yellowstone!) on Labor Day weekend, and we camped in the national parks; the night skies gave us the clearest milky way ever, and mule deer welcomed us in as we arrived with the late dusk glow. We were on another planet at Cedar Pass lodge.

Looking out over this harsh-looking landscape we never imagined seeing much wildlife, but it was a wonderland of life – from cliff-climbing chipmunks, hares, and prairie dogs to bighorn sheep to buffalo.

Don’t miss checking out this humorous video entitled “Honey, Start the Car” as Michelle tries to get Kule to move the car in the path of an oncoming herd of buffalo. The park ranger warned us that buffalo are known to charge cars, but Kule was having a moment of deep connection with this sacred animal. This visit was truly a gift. I can understand why the life of the Lakota-Sioux revolved around the bison.

The colors, waves, ledges, and hoodoos (animated shapes) of the Badlands are God’s art. Vistas abound with hay bales and grazing cattle.

An excursion from Badlands to Mt. Rushmore presented a 5th celebrated figure on this national monument (see photo below). We enjoyed the beauty of the Black Hills national forest beyond the touristy faux-ghost town of Keystone, with one-lane tunnels through the mountains.

Leaving Badlands, we discovered a magical place called Spearfish canyon. The town’s hip health food store owner loved living there; the winters are cold but the sun is warm and she would prefer living there than cloudy Seattle. Something to consider!

Over the border into Wyoming we visited Devil’s Tower. It really should be called Angel’s Tower; the energy here is so peaceful and the vibration so high. This is sacred land to the native tribes here – the Crow and the Sioux.

A full day’s drive to Yellowstone, with beauty surrounding us continually…….

Minnesota 8/31-9/1 - Cousin and Friends in the Twin Cities

(From Michelle - glad to have time to blog, now in Wyoming!)

Minnesota was our next destination after the Chicago area - about 6 hrs to the Twin Cities for two days to see Kule’s cousin Bob in Minneapolis and the family of his late friend Rochet in St. Paul. My very first impression of the area was that it is relaxed and green-conscious, and that is so true. The food co-op in Linden Hills had the slogan “How local can you go?” There were so many windmills along the rt 90 stretch (that goes from Boston to Seattle) of pastures and cornfields that it put us northeasterners to shame. We even saw a windmill being transported, and others staged on farmland ready to be assembled.

It was fun hanging out with Bob, Toni, and Will, and getting to watch 6th grade Will do his impressive skateboard tricks and start his first day of school. They enjoyed playing with our sound healing instruments.

The waterphone and the big drum (that resonates with your voice) were also big hits with our friends Andrea, Milo, and Noah in St. Paul; I always get a kick out of how many new ways someone can make sound with them.


We were lucky to catch the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit in the Museum of Science in St. Paul – a great presentation combining science, religion, and mystery. I was struck by how central the Jerusalem area is to all religions, at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa.


Next destination: The Badlands national park in South Dakota. More corn, corn, corn everywhere… and gorgeous fluffy clouds! The Midwest farm vistas are very beautiful, I must admit. It got much windier as we travelled through South Dakota, feeling like wilder country!

Photos: Bob and Will and Kule, clouds and rolls

Illinois-Wisconsin - Visiting the Brothers 8/27-31/10

(from Kule 9/2/10)


Midwest – From the land of Corn to the land of Cheese

Leaving our brief but warm connection with the barn yard animals, prolific gardens, and friends, at Monica's Muddy Fork Farm, we set our next heading to reconnect with that ribbon of pavement known as Interstate 90, West. Westward Ho!

Trade Offs:
In order to make it to Seattle before the “Gray” sets in for the cooler months, we have chosen to limit our stop times along the way. At times I feel frustrated with the chosen trade offs, and mourn the loss of potentially longer celebration times with precious family and friends. 'Short but sweet' seems to describe most of our connections along the way, so far.

On to visit 3 brothers:
I am the forth of five brothers. We all grew up in a northern suburb of Chicago, Glencoe. We share a bond, not all that common in families these days, and celebrate it during our monthly conference calls.

Our next stop was with brother Jon, 'number 3 son', now in Aurora, IL, west of Chicago. A one-nighter, we caught up on Jon's and wife Martha's recent cruise to Italy and Greece, and enjoyed some catch up with nephew Dan. A surprise and delight, that night, was to also catch up with another nephew, Roger, from Seattle while our paths crossed on his west coast to east coast bicycle ride. The evening was heartful and animated.

After breakfast and a few cups of Jo from Jon's latest fashion coffee maker gadget, we headed due north to catch up with 'number 2 son' and 'number 5 son' brothers in Wisconsin. In route, we lunched with a friend, Davi, who we know from our Network for New Culture Summer Camp group. Davi had put up Roger when he bicycled through Madison a week earlier, after some telephone introductions on my part.

We made it in time for dinner to my older brother, Kim's, place in Rhinelander, WI, with my younger brother, Mark, having extended his own visit, from near Chicago, to catch us. Kim lives in 'God's Country', his house abutting the Wisconsin river. Swimming, evening campfire, 22 target practice, and dining on a table at riverside punctuated our visit. (Note from Michelle. Impressed with Kule's hitting the dime sized bullseyes several times from 50 yards away.)

I got my brothers joining me in a celestial navigation project, using the sun's position to calculate our Lat. Long., which worked out with minimal error, but (in retrospect) took more time than I had hoped, so I missed out on some time fishing, or otherwise spending time with my brothers getting dirty in the outdoors or with some household projects, or more protracted discussions about what is meaningful in our lives. We headed out the next day for Minnesota.