Rocking in Flagstaff

This morning at 7 AM Dave and I went to "The Pit" climbing area just 10 minutes outside downtown.  It was cool and green and deserted.  Dave's climbing partner was injured so I got to step in as his belay partner.  I'm still a bit freaked out about the idea of catching his fall from a cliff face.  Today Dave wanted me to get comfortable with the idea of catching his falls.  The idea was that he would intentionally take big falls without warning.  Okay! So off we go hiking into the canyon filled with pine trees.  Here Dave is on the path.

We hiked down into the tree-filled canyon in the chilly morning air.  The days have been so hot and dry and windy, the early morning dew was wonderful.  Once at the crag (the base of the climbing walls) Dave unloads the rope and harnesses and we get ready.  The responsibilities of the belayer are to feed out the rope as the climber goes up clipping draws into bolts then clipping the rope into the draws.  There has to be enough slack to allow the climber to move freely but not so much that his fall would be long.  When the climber gets to the top, I take up the slack and he drops his weight into his harness and I slowly lower him.  In the event that he falls, I am jerked up off the ground several feet to catch his fall.  Then I lower myself, get footing and help him get back to the rock to continue climbing.  Here you see Dave hanging in the harness.  I am well below him on a large rock landing as I belay.  When he did his big fall, I went up 10 feet.  My squeal echoed through the canyon, but I did good.  It was actually thrilling and I am proud of being able to catch my partner when he falls.

There are elements we each need to have around us to be happy to feel empowered.  For Dave it is rock to climb on and people to play music with.  For me it is yoga community and water.  I need to be near ocean or lake or river... to feel the presence of the water element.  The expansiveness of a large body of water and its flow are so soothing to me.

The flow of connection that develops between yogis is also something that feeds my soul.  I am only now realizing the preciousness of all those after-yoga talks at the Kula 200 studio.  I am so grateful for those memories and hope you are continuing the unity.  I am loving daily yoga classes and the teachers are just lovely.  The studio is on the third floor of an old building in historic downtown.  Just below is The Wine Loft where Dave and I went to a wine tasting and shared wonderful wine, cheese and conversation.  It was one of the most romantic evenings ever.  Tonight we return to see a Gypsy Jazz band.

Flagstaff is great for biking too.  Bike paths everywhere.  When the hot windy weather stops we will go on long rides.  For now we ride around town and leave the big truck parked in the shade.  This Friday evening there is an event called "The Art Walk" where all downtown businesses transform into art galleries showing local art and offering wine and pupus.  Dave and I will join the buzz.  The weather is set to shift to cool rains in July and we plan to take a day trip to Sedona and Cottonwood for wine tasting, farm tours and stunning nature.  We've been resourceful in dealing with the dryness here. We bought a humidifier for our room and we are drinking lots of aloe vera juice.  Our bodies are adjusting, but we look forward to being near lakes and rivers in Colorado and Idaho.

from Desert Angst to Flagstaff Relief

DEEP SPRINGS COLLEGE - EASTERN CALIFORNIA

We made the trek from Bishop, CA to Flagstaff, AZ via Las Vegas, NV.  We left Bishop around noon.  About an hour later were in a deserted eastern California valley at a place called Deep Springs.  We were hungry and looking for a shady place for lunch.  We saw a sign for Deep Springs College.  Hmmm... Nothing remotely resemling a college was in sight, but we followed the sign.  We came to a small circle of buildings that looked like ranch homes.  We stopped a car leaving the place and asked if it was indeed a college.  The young man told us it was an all-male college for Alfalfa Growers; 26 students and 5 teachers.  We asked if we might take a picnic on the lawn.  He said he thought it would be fine.  We parked in the blessed shade and laid out our food and blanket.  As we settled into our meal we noticed the incredible calm and silence of the place.  The valley surrounded by dry rocky mountains was as still as could be.

Even the small movements of people on the "campus" were like whispers in the thick quiet of this place.  I drank in the peace of it as we munched on salad wraps, kalmata olives, and orange wedges.  As we packed up to leave we drank in the green fields around us knowing we were heading through dry hot desert.

I've heard people say that Las Vegas has a dark energy that is palpable and can bring out the worst in a person, but I had not experienced first hand until two days ago when we drove through.  There must be something about a place without trees and flowing water that is not good for the human spirit.  Suffice it to say, Dave and I were bitter boots and snarly as we passed through.  Even the strange scenes photographed here were not enough to keep us in good humor.   Dave did his best to make me laugh telling me contrived creepy stories of Sand Alligator Jerky and Cactus Spider Salve in his Australian accent.  I smirked.

On top of the desolate desert energy we had underestimated the timing of our trip (Dave calculated based on college boy going 90 mph and never stopping).  We were so tired we had to stop at 9 PM - two hours from Flagstaff and stay at a ratty hotel next to the train tracks.  The plumbing gurgled and the train passed every hour.  In retrospect it was a funny quintessential desert road trip scenario but while we were in it... it was HELL!

Here in Flagstaff we are in heaven!  Before leaving Bishop, CA we posted a request for room sharing in Flagstaff and ended up with an ideal situation.  Our new friend Todd Nelson is the volunteer coordinator for Grand Canyon National Parks.  He is a sweet 45-year old liberal nature lover who is as neat as me.  His house is immaculate! He has a big house with extra rooms and bathrooms and regularly opens his home to volunteers.  We are staying in his shady cool home and sleeping on an amazing bed!  Three miles on a bike path takes us to downtown Flagstaff.  And we are paying the same amount we would for a camp site!  We are in deep appreciation of Todd and his peaceful home.  We will make him some gourmet meals for sure.

The town of Flagstaff is a groovy college town with parks, big trees, vegetarian cafes, wine bars, farmer's markets, outdoor music and Anusara Yoga!  We bought unlimited passes.  In yesterday's class we practiced one-handed handstands!  Dave found a tattooed unemployed climbing buddy and I am taking oodles of yoga and writing for hours in lovely cafes.  We are in heaven.   We may stay here until the middle of July then head to Boulder and Colorado Springs.  If you know anyone in those places who would like to have personal chefs and gardeners stay with them for a week or so, let us know.

Although I loved Chico for its riveers, parks and trees and Flagstaff for its yoga and great restaurants... nothing comes close to the glorious nature of Maui and the high vibration of her people.  I miss all of you.

The Icy Plunge - Dave Dives into a Snowy Lake

In Bishop is has been hot, dry and windy. We escaped the heat again by driving up to Mammoth Lakes. This time we were blessed to have company. We drove up with a couple from San Diego - Rebecca and Scott. They had pulled into the campsite next to ours the night before and their vanagon needed work. They have friends in Mammoth who were willing to loan them a car while their van was worked on. It was perfect that they needed a ride there and we were headed there. Scott is a geologist and Rebbecca an interior designer - like Kim McEvoy! They are also nature-lovers and interested in sustainable living so we had rich conversation on the way up.

After we dropped them off we headed to Lake George for some day hiking. What we found was that the trails were still covered in snow as was part of the lake. We wandered around the lake shore wondering what to do. Other hikers were wandering too. Confused by the fact that hiking was not possible in late June. We did some handstands on a small dock that jutted into the icy lake. Then Dave said to me, "I think I'll take the plunge." What? He went to put his suit on and I talked to a couple by the lake shore. When he arrived back with suit on and towel in hand, our new friends Kent and Annie looked on with surprise. In this video clip you see Dave's very quick entrance and exit from the Icy Lake.

After the plunge we headed down the mountain to find accessible hiking.  We were directed to Sherwin Lakes Trail.  We had a picnic near the creek at the trail head then headed up the mountain.  We walked up a switch back trail through sequoias, blue spruce, pine trees and aspens.  Dave carried me on his shoulders for a few hundred yards as part of his training.  I felt like a giant.  After 90 minutes of sweaty uphill hiking we arrived at a gorgeous mountain lake.  I splashed my feet in the cold water and Dave drank from the lake's overflow.  We met a couple hiking down with fishing poles.   They got no bites but the beauty of the lake made the trip worth it. 

Being the insatiable climber he is, Dave crawled up a dead tree sticking out of the lake edge and pointed like a harbinger to the peaks beyond.  That night we returned to Bishop, took a mediocre yoga class, and returned to a hot and windy campsite with noisy ATV riders next door.  Things were getting unpleasant at Millpond Camp ground...

The next day, Dave went climbing from noon to seven pm and Jen rented a blessed hotel room.  That night when Dave returned to the campsite, the wind had knocked over our table and the neighbors were already starting up with their loudness.  Dave bravely packed up camp alone and joined me in the hotel.   We slept like the dead in our king sized bed.

This morning we are at our favorite Black Sheep Cafe planning our exit strategy.  We will head to Flagstaff AZ where there is Anusara Yoga, organic food, rock climbing and evolved human beings!  We are considering staying with people who open their extra rooms to travelers from a web site called couch-surfing.org.  We are finding that paying $20 a night to camp plus the money for hot showers and laundry is adding up to about the same as subletting a furnished room and bathroom in town.  Like our favorite comedian Jim Gaffigan says, "Paying to sleep outside?... That's gotta be insulting to the homeless."

Now we are wondering if it was silly to spend so much money on camping gear.  We could be driving a fuel efficient hybrid with a bike rack and staying in a comfortable sublets on this road trip.  Ah well... live and learn.

We plan to furnish our apartment in Bed, OR with the camping furniture we bought!  The tent will set up in the living room as a meditation den.  ;-)

Early Mornin' Runnin' and Slackin'

Dave is now running with me almost every morning.  Yippee!  He wants to get even leaner so he can be more like spider man on the rock.  His friend Katie told him that running will take the pounds off fast.  Thanks Katie!  Now I have a running partner.  And he pushes me to run further and faster. Here he races through the campground on our way out to run yesterday.  We started out at 7 AM but that was too late.  It was too hot already.

This morning we hit the trail at 5:45 AM.  Much better.  We ran about 4 miles and after we got back, Dave jumped on the slack line.  Even with rubbery legs from running he managed a graceful passage and impressive ending. Click here to see the video:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBPOD9Y_3hE

Water from the Well

Dave and I were blessed to wake up to new neighbors in our campsite.  Cool neighbors!  Scott is a geologist from San Diego who manages water cleaning projects around the state.  His wife Rebbecca is an interior designer.  They were traveling in their VW van and it broke down last night.  We gave them a ride to Mammoth this morning so they could borrow a friend's car.  On the hour ride up, we became good friends.  Like all of us, they are devoted to changing the way they live to honor and enjoy the bounty of nature more fully.  We talked about what 'the good life' looks like and agreed that part of it is freeing the natural flow of water so it can make its natural journey from the sky, down the mountains, through the river valleys,  over the earth, under the earth, and back to the sea.

With water running freely perhaps can remember how to create lots of little ponds rather than giant dams.  Perhaps we can re-arrange or homesteads to live near streams for washing and drink from springs and wells and allow the water that purifies and nourishes us to flow - gray but unpolluted - back to the earth to nourish plants and purify itself.  In this picture to the left Dave and I pump water from a well near our campsite.  Once it is put into place, this old fashioned compression pump needs no technology and will work for years.  We plan to have one on the farm in Oregon.  I can see you there next summer, pumping water for our morning tea at our Yoga Retreat!

Jen's Back on Facebook

Okay, so connection is the most important thing, right?  To feel we belong to a family, a community, is essential for our empowerment and wholeness.  I am opening all channels... I am once again an active Facebooker...  Hope to see your pics and comments there.

In this picture you see me digging with Laurie to place irrigation for her little lawn.  Her patch of green will complete a lovely garden she has created around her sweet Chico home.  In the background you see her partner Stevo's dirt bike.  He is the guy who took me and Dave on the Archery Adventure.  We admire Steve and Laurie so much.  They are keeping the spirit of fun and adventure alive in their lives and inspiring others to do the same.

Apple Hill Farm in Bishop California

Yesterday Dave and I traveled to an organic farm just outside Bishop.  It is called Apple Hill and is known for its vast apple, peach and cherry orchards.  They also grow vegetables and invite the public to come out and harvest.  They have an honor system of payment where each harvester leaves what he or she deems appropriate payment in their cash box.  The farm is absolutely lovely.  It is a green oasis thick with trees, green pathways, ponds and wooden bridges.  There are flower beds, barns, and chickens, ducks and peacocks roaming freely.  It is completely out of place in the starkness of the high desert surrounding it.  Dave says one of the wealthy land developers in the area created it for his wife.

As we walked around the farm I thought of how magical it is that humans can take the elements of nature and arrange them so delightfully.  We each have an intuitive sense of creating sacred space.  It is one of our pleasures and points of power.  These farm owners have arranged the topography of their acreage, the trees, the plants, the run-off streams, the barns, sheds, and house - they've arranged these things to create a safe, bountiful, inspiring, soothing, beautiful space.  I wanted to stay there all day.  Heck!  I wanted to live there.

Of course the winter is harsh and the growing season short.  This year, the winter played tricks and came back with a late frost that took out all the stone fruit.  So, no cherries or peaches this year.  Ah, well the upside is the water supply is strong.  Perhaps next year the trees will produce a bumper crop.  When I imagine my farm in Oregon, I see many of the same elements I found on Apple Hill Farm - ponds large enough to boat on, a barn large enough for yoga retreats, orchards of fruit to share, acres of vegetables for creating healthy feasts that I hope to be sharing with all of you!

The Reflection Pond

I've been running early in the morning here in Bishop.  I get up at 5:30 Am and run in the cool predawn.  At the end of my run I go to the large park next to the campground and sit by the pond.  At 7 AM the light is just right to create a clear reflection of the trees and mountains on the water.  As I watch the reflection I think of that shop-worn yogic saying that goes like this: When the mind becomes still the reflection of our truth and beauty can be seen clearly in our lives.  But when the mind is turbulent, there is distortion that causes wrong thinking and suffering. 

As I sat and watched the fantastic reflection on this pond, I could feel the wisdom of that tidbit like never before.  I could feel the calm stillness that comes from releasing the turbulence of old stories, worries, judgments and fears.  The lake of the mind can be stilled with practice.  Our yoga offers us a place to do that; to repeatedly clear agitations.  I think of the serenity on your faces when you come up from savasana and I know your mind is like the calm of the pond pictured here.  And in the stillness of its surface you can see your own beauty - the fullness of your lives - more clearly.  I love you all so much and am eager to be with you again.

Slack Lining in Chico

One of Dave's heroes is Philippe Petit from the movie Man on Wire.  He is a tight rope walker who spent years of his life planning to walk a high wire between the twin towers in NYC.  He did it and the 45-minute preformance was awe-inspiring for the entire world.  You can witness the whole experience by watching the movie Man on Wire.  Anyhoo, Dave loves to create miniature "man on wire" acts whenever he can.  Here he offers a rope walk across the river-pool at Bidwell park in Chico.  He had to set this up very early in the morning since it would not be allowed by the park attendants who arrive at 9 AM.  The illicit nature of the mission made it all the more exciting for Dave.  He received these pictures from early morning park-walkers who stopped to admire his unique performance.

Mammoth Lakes Climbing

Mammoth Lakes was cool and still this morning as we made our way to Warming Wall - a south-facing rock climbing wall.  Dave couldn't climb at Lake George because that rock wall is still buried in snow!  But we found Warming Wall and Dave met and climbed with a man named Shayd.  I hiked around the forest which was still spotted with large chunks of snow.  I also took many pictures and film clips of the day's climbing.  Here is one of our favorites.  Tomorrow Dave will climb more challenging routes with our friend Katie who is so graceful and strong on the rock she reminds me of spider man.  I will attend a farmer's market and outdoor concert in Mammoth.  Will post pictures on Tuesday.

Pine Creek Climbing Video

Here is a short clip of Dave climbing at Pine Creek.  The camera sweep to show some of the surrounding landscape.  A creek of rushing cold run off cut through the two crags we were in between.  Katie says sometimes mountain goats come down for a drink.

Pine Creek Climbing

Rough night in the campsite last night.  Some socially-challenged kids from town decided to camp next to us.  Nothin' dangerous, just loud unpleasant interchanges till 3 AM.  Then we awoke to strong wind - equally unpleasant.  So we headed for the hills.  We are in Mammoth lakes where it is calm and cool.  Dave will climb at Lake George.  I will belay him.  Pictures will be posted soon.  But back to Pine Creek... Two days ago Dave climbed with Katie and Terra at a quiet crag called Pine Creek.  Here are some pictures from the day:

Look Closely for Dave on the Rock

Here Dave clings to Mustache Wall

On the Road in California

Aloha Friends and Family.  Dave and I just getting our "sea legs" here in Bishop California.  We actually set up our tent and have been living in our camp site for 4 days!  We  had a soft beginning with a two week stay in Chico, California where we were blessed to have a room in Steve and Laurie's lovely home near Bidwell Park.  Dave got a few great days of climbing in at Grizzly Dome and a place called "The Emeralds" near Nevada city.  We both got treated to an archery lesson and course tour.  Steve generously taught us the basics of shooting arrows and we trekked through an oak savanna landscape with targets set up throughout.  We shot from 30 feet back where as the master (Steve) shot from 50 feet back.  We got a few bulls eyes!  At the end of the course we shot for distance from about 100 yards away from the truck.  Dave shot 475 feet.  I shot 300 feet but managed to hit the outhouse next to our truck.  In Chico we enjoyed biking under the shade of the grand tree-lined streets and spending hours next to a big green river that runs through Bidwell park.

We attended some nice yoga classes, but none with the amazing vibe of our Maui Yoga crew.  We miss all of you but are having a great time. Here is a video Dave took as we pedaled to yoga class on a Chilly Chico Morning:

Later in the week, Dave took me to upper Bidwell park - the less developed part of the park.  We hiked gingerly around the poison oak to the creek side.  We dove off big hot rocks into chilly green water.  In this picture, I am testing my balance skills on a large tree trunk that fell across the water.  Behind me is a very deep swimming hole I dove into in between sessions of sun soaking on the rocks. 

Poor Dave spent most of our time at the creek fighting his allergies.  He was a 'snot machine' for most of our time in Chico.

Now we are in Bishop California with the Eastern Sierras towering in the background.  There is still snow on the mountain tops but it is melting quickly in the heat of these long summer days.  Our campsite is 6 miles from town and I am enjoying biking to and from in the cool of the early morning.  I made the mistake of riding home in the afternoon with the sun baking me and a head wind pushing back at me.  I was so happy to get to our shady campsite for a rest!  We have mastered our camping kitchen and are having broccoli and brown rice with spicey almond sauce and cilantro tonight.

Yesterday we were taken to a new climbing area called Pine Creek.  Dave's college friend Katie gave us a tour.  We brought along a friend from Canada that Dave met on line.  Terra was her name.  Wonderful gal.  More on that adventure in our next entry... I got footage of Dave a hundred feet up!