Sunday, October 16, 2011

Reflections of Lost Valley

Lost Valley Educational Center has given us a great experience of living in community with awesome people who care for each other and the earth. Being on this beautiful land in the ideal Oregon summer climate has been magical. The sunny flowery meadow will be with me always, and when I close my eyes I will feel the warmth on my body and the soft earth under my feet. When I take a shower, I will visualize being in the solar shower, bathed by the creek warmed by our dear sun, and walking out into the meadow to air dry. When I miss our community here, I will close my eyes and feel the hugs and the smiles, and come into the lodge for hangout time. I will meditate in the sacred yurt with Kule and Justin and others, sending good energy to our dear earth, and I will eat the food with that energy. I will even miss the rains, when the lushness takes over my senses and lulls me into dreamland.

The magical camas meadow

Music with Chris and Melanie

The deer check out Kule's solar cooker site



Our Network for New Culture dome at night
 We enjoyed our tiny Cabin 6 with a kitchen, a hammock on the porch, and the community lodge next door, so we could socialize easily whenever we wanted to, and retreat to ourselves when that felt right. We were so fortunate to have one of our favorite community events (Network for New Culture) come to us at Lost Valley, and we gladly worked hard in August to help make that a success. Being on the Zegg Forum facilitation team was an incredible experience for me and Kule, the workshops were rich, and we enjoyed being co-hosts at our home community.

I am so grateful to Lost Valley for what I have learned here about permaculture, organic gardening, and living in community. I greatly respect what everyone here have done to create a community that works well together, where people take responsibility and there is effective group process for transparency, conflict resolution and making sociocratic decisions. I am grateful to have shared dance, hikes, healthy food, fun, massage, movies, music, meditation, spiritual guide sessions, and sound healing with my friends in Lost Valley and Eugene. I am grateful to have felt support during some challenging times of evolving personally and in relationship with my partner, which has been a beautiful process.

Lost Valley seems to accelerate evolution, so be prepared if you decide to live here! It’s all good!!

There are always challenges living in community, but Lost Valley has taught me that it is a way of life that greatly appeals to me. We have been guided to move to Ashland for many personal and business reasons, and our hearts will always be with Lost Valley. We’ll be back for visits, and we welcome visits in Ashland as well!
Massage fun in the sacred yurt

Hanging with Ava

Mountains!


One of the things we love most about the west coast are the mountains and open vistas, in addition to expansive stretches of wilderness in the valleys.

Mt. Rainier, Washington
We finally got to see Mt. Rainier (above) on a sunny day! Kule has been waiting for this for years, after several trips to see his brother Joel’s family in Seattle. The mountain has a beautiful majestic yet peaceful energy. If my knees could handle it, I would love to climb to the top, a doable climb for many. We spent some special time in an old-growth grove of giant trees.

Mt. St. Helens. Washington
We couldn’t go back to Eugene without stopping out of our way to see Mt. St. Helens. The visitor centers’ movies are so worth seeing, to get an appreciation for the incredible geological shift this mountain and its valley underwent in the minutes after the 1980-something eruption. Trees were ripped out with the atom-bomb-like explosion, lakes were displaced, and the molten bolders and ash raced down the river, flooding the valley and creating vastly underestimated destruction. There’s a stark eeriness about the mountain; my son Jason would have gone wild photographing this!


Three Sisters, Oregon
I had the opportunity to hike with our Eugene friend Cedar to a stunning and diverse trail up to South and Middle Sisters near Bend, Oregon. From the peaceful colorful meadows to the lifeless lava beds to the glistening obsidian decorating the cliffs, ledges, and scree,  the Obsidian trail is on of my all-time favorite trails. The ten miles and 1400 ft change in elevation were gentle on my knees, affording me the kind of hiking experience I have been missing when I can’t do steeper hikes with my knees. I love the west!



Tahoe National Forest, California
It’s always a treat to visit my brother Alex’s family in Truckee, CA to be in the Tahoe mountains. We camped out in a remote campsite that his massive sportsmobile could reach on its huge 4WD tires, climbing over boulders on something that looked like a dirt path in the pines.



 
Our peninsula site hosted beautiful scenery with snow in nearby peaks, mountain-clear swimmable water (I wasn’t numb), a cozy hammock, and great campfires and cookouts.


My morning ritual was a kayak around the lake exploring waterfalls and receiving visits from the river otters that are making a comeback in the area.

I got to sleep in my sister-in-law Nancy’s bivouac, with some space for my head, arms, and a few belongings, and the rest of my body in a snug cocoon.

Nancy and I took a hike up the mountain to step on some snow in July!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Oregon/California Coast

We’ve gotten to know the Pacific Ocean in our past trips to San Diego, San Francisco, and Costa Rica. Since moving to the west coast, we’ve been itching to see more of this magical coast, from the California redwoods to the rock outcroppings and seal habitats, to the powerful Columbia River and Olympic peninsula and islands up north.

Redwood National Forest coast, northern CA


The water is cold, but the ocean is beautiful to behold. It’s not easy to capture a sunny day on the northwest coast, but we got a few!


Last summer we spent time on the Olympic Peninsula, Orcas Island and a ferry tour of other San Juan islands and orca whales, and Point Reyes in Marin County (see 9-10/10). This summer we got to see more of the west coast in three different trips:

Arcata, CA and the Redwood National Forest area near the border of Oregon:
I can’t get enough of those mystical giants!


Lady Anne Victorian B&B in Arcata, CA with palm tree and roses

Magical Fern Gully in Redwood National Forest

Elk on the Beach!

Redwood National Forest, border of CA and Oregon

Of course Kule had to climb this natural bridge - beautiful
Heceta Head near Florence, Oregon:
This is the closest beach to Eugene, Oregon, about 1 ¼ hrs away. The lighthouse and sea lion caves are worth a trip!



Looks like Cranes Beach, Ipswich, MA in the winter!

Sea lion caves


Astoria, Oregon:
This Victorian city on the Columbia River, bordering Washington state, has a rich history of fur trade, salmon canning, and international trade. The maritime museum is a must-see, with stories of shipwrecks and movies of passages through “the Bar”, the treacherous area of cross-currents created with the power of the Columbia River meeting the mighty Pacific. I would love to see it during a winter storm, but I’m choosing not to make the passage!

Our Victorian B&B was a treat, with an awesome view of the river and passing freighters.



We stepped back in time to this small town on the way to visit Kule’s brother Joel in Seattle, with hopes to get a sunny day at Mt Rainier!

View of the Columbia River from our GrandView VictoriaN B&B in Astoria, OR

Freigher crossing the bar on the Columbia River with pelican display

Wow - check out http://www.pedouins.org/  about this family of 5 who biked 7000 miles with 2, 4, and 6 yr olds