9/27/07 Orcas Island Adventure

When I was 3 months old my parents who were living in Roseburg Oregon took a visit to Orcas Island to visit a relative and they feel in love with the beauty of the island and it's intimate community, they packed up and moved here at once. My dad got a job working for the telephone company and bartending at night, my mom cocktailed and sang in the lounge at Rosario's Resort. They only stayed for 18 months or so but I have some great pictures of me as a baby in a polka dot bathing suit playing with chickens. We had a pig named Lolita and it was our friend and we loved her, but when she got big they took her to be made into food and my folks were wondering if that would upset me.. well the meal came and i sat happily eating and asked with a smile, "is this Lolita" . no early childhood trauma here.

We spent the night at a campground in Anacortes and got on the ferry 5 miles down the road, it is a big ferry, holds probably 40 cars and 8 or so trucks or motorhomes. It cost us $185 to drive the car and motorhome accross and it was about an hour long ride. We made two other stops first at Lopez and Shaw Island before Orcas and the scenery was gorgeous even though it was grey and overcast and no sun at all that day. When we landed we headed to Eastsound the main town, very cute, 3 blocks wide and 6 blocks wide, health food market, church (with daily AA meetings), hotels, restaurants and shops, sat farmers market, 3 yoga studios and a library, what else do you need??

Our suite at the WorldMark resort at Deer Harbot was awaiting us, we booked 2 nights in a bungalow with a harborview and get this.. a private jacuzzi! I spent 2 1/2 days in that jacuzzi, literally i went in every 90 minutes or so. It was heaven, they had breakfast for us and 100's of videos for borrowing, we chilled out and relaxed.

I finished the Barbara Kingsolver book, it was so good, all about love and the fears that shut us off from the beauty that we are and i started On the Road by Jack Kerouac, what a shift. Ok I know it's a classic, speaks to the beat era, and i'm only half way through, but it is just about a bunch of adventurous drunks, they race from here to there, looking and questing for meaning and love and then they get drunk and create a big mess and drama and go out again the next day and do it again. Apparently he died of Alcoholism so I don't know how much clarity he ever got.. but as i said i am only half way through and I am enjoying the book, it is like listening to stories in AA, they are very entertaining. And i do understand those who are driven by excitement and the constant need for going here and there, my dad was one of them and i think i have a bit of that myself. But i must say that i am very grateful that i am no longer looking for fulfillment in drugs and alcohol and thinking what a great time i am having when in fact i am just living a lie of tremendous aloneness. I am so glad that i can laugh and love and be fully alive stone cold sober without any additives, it is truly a gift!

9/25/07 Seattle Science Museum

Oh yeah!! we spent the day at the Seattle Science Museum, they had loads of hands on stuff for us to play with and a Planetarium and a presentation on global warming and a big kids area for Luc with .. you guessed it .. water play!! We saw life size dinosaurs, a massive chessboard, a climb in space shuttle with 10,000 buttons ( Luc and I sat in there for about an hour taking off and having missions), and a Butterfly Room with hundreds of butterflies that flew all around. We had a hunt for them as they hide in trees and bushes and we saw a few die and i took loads of amazing photos, talk about the creative source of the universe, butterflies are simply amazing. I especially love that ones that look totally different closed up than they do open and flying and the colors are breathtaking. We spent over an hour in awe.

9/24/07 We're back in Redondo Beach.. Washington

I stopped at a fruit stand this morning and got to talking to the owner, is that your motorhome? he asked.. yes we are traveling... what a great life, where are you from? Redondo Beach i said, Washington? he asked. No California.. oh well there is a Redondo Beach Washington also.. how about that..

And off we drove headed for Seattle and then i saw a sign for Saltpoint State Park and off I headed off the freeway in search of some nature, I was a bit tired of cities after being in one for almost 2 weeks. I did not find the park, but somehow i wound up in .. guess??? Redondo Beach, a tiny harbor with a sweet piece of beach, a pier and a few restaurants .. and a great view of Pugot Sound. It alwasy amazes me how kids play at the beach, no toys, just digging and discovering.. I jumped back into my very sweet novel Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver, I read another of hers just a few weeks ago, called Pigs in Heaven, great writer, makes the characters so alive, it is an intimate encounter with life.

Something big shifts have been happening, for the past 15 years I have been on a quest, well actually the quest started before that. From a very young age i was on a quest, for excitement, for love, for knowledge, for the great life.. So much searching, first in drugs and alcohol, looking for that "feeling" that I was ok, that I could do anything, that I was going somewhere, achieving or accomplishing something worthwhile.. Looking in school, clubs, friends, higher education, careers, always looking, outside for mySelf, sometimes finding satisfaction but never for long, and the search would continue. In the realm of spirituality I searched the longest and the hardest, 12 steps, Indian teachers and gurus, religious science, manifesting, being a conscious creator, on and on.. but not finding mySelf exactly..

And now, I feel that the quest is over, no more searching and seeking, still looking but not to find but more to enjoy and discover, I feel a greater sense of oneness than ever, with everyone, every tree, every flower, I feel a sense of peace and contentment and a deep appreciation for all of life, and it is really strong in nature, i feel instantly calm and nurtured almost. Instead of seeking this peace and presense, it seems I am it. And so are you, so it everything, seeking has become recognition, seeing the source of all in everything, and the me that i relate to is also that.

So, i am reading novels instead of spiritual books (or the parenting books i read obsessively for 5 years). And i feel this amazing beauty most of the time, in everything. And I don't feel that there is anything that i have to do or experience or accomplish or achieve, just to be here now, aware of the miracle of all of life, in awe of the beauty, wow.

9/23/07 OMSI & Pirate Festival

Our last few days in Portland we had to go back to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, it was so awesome they had a full Chemistry Lab with 6 different experiments the kids could do alone, including using bunsen burners burning different chemicals to see the colors they emit, Reese did that one 3 times. Luc was into dipping different metals into chemicals to see how they changed. They also had a Physics lab, a space station and the big hit, water play, yeah we got wet.

Sunday we checked out the Portland Pirate Festival, held right on the river, under this massive bridge, beautiful setting. They had lots of pirates, lots of fighting, lots of weapons, puppet shows, great music and real cannon and gunpowder battles, really loud!! They had Captain Bogg and Salty performing loads of pirate songs and they were great! There was also a great Pirate's Parrot show with over 30 parrots that we got to hold and pet, such a treat, my parrot let me pet him for over 10 minutes and wanted me to nuzzle into his neck and everything.

After the festival, we hit the road and headed for Seattle, goodbye Portland, great 12 days here, definately coming back!

9/21/07 Colombia Gorge

Oh Yeah.. and while we were in Portland Steve flew to LA for work and after dropping him off at the airport we just headed East toward the Colombia Gorge, the highway follows the river and we stopped all along the way to play in the creeks and see the waterfalls. My boys are good to hike about 15 minutes, that is their limit assuming that the scenery is quite interesting, a few banana slugs are good, a wall to climb on or some logs, and creeks and rocks are a plus. After 15 minutes Luc wants to be carried and is will to whine without ceasing and Reese will join in for good measure. So we take lots of short walks and try to look for creeks and rivers they can walk in, building dams is a big hit and of course looking for critters and throwing rocks.

We drove all the way to Hood River (which i heard was a very cool little community, actually i met some folks at Burning Man from Hood River who gave me there contact info but i lost it on the playa along with my video camera i might add) and I wish i could say we drove the whole town, soaked up some local culture and met some folks who invited us to dinner and to play with their 3 sons.. but we just cruised the town a bit, spent 90 minutes getting our RV oil changed and serviced, went bowling and drove right out of town! We crossed the gorge and drove home on the Washington side and got to stop and soak at Carson Hot Springs on the way home.

9/13/07-9/20/07 Keep Portland Weird!!

Our first day in Portland, we raced from Lincoln City to make a homeschooler park day in Hillsboro just west of Portland. We met 6 or so really nice families and i was so glad for this network to hook up with folks across the country who are so warm and welcoming. I shared about our travels and that inspiring book "The Four Hour Work Week". And it just so happened that a few of their husbands had recently been laid off and were looking for something new..

After a few hours we headed to our RV park and checked ourselves in. Early the next morning we went to the OMSI
the local Science Museum and spent the whole day. The Body Works exhibit is there and although I saw it in LA, Steve
had not seen it nor had the boys, they all liked it. Your can see all the organs of the body, skin, bones, muscles, nerves, it
is really amazing. They have a huge Discovery center area with hands on play for kids and lots of art projects too.

Over the next week we really did this town. We attended a street fair that was 16 some blocks long with lots of live music, hands on art for the kids and shopping of course. We brought our hoops and hooped to the music. I would swear at the street fair that we were at Burning Man, there were 10 or more art cars, fully decorated and painted, everyone was dressed funky and very individual. They have a motto here in Portland, Keep Portland Weird, it is meant to honor small business and individual efforts and expression, to keep the walmarts out. It really captures the feel here, it is a very different vibe from Southern California where hip is expensive and there is a look and an attitude seperating the have's and have nots.

Here in Portland, every look is hip, funky is hip, everything is cool, diversity is really in and there does not seem to be a line between the haves and have nots. There are a lot of Burners here in Oregon, i met one at a homeschooler park day we attended, she had purple dreds, so i had to ask.. were you at burning man this year?? not this year she said, but many years prior, she was pregnant with #4 and had done Burning man pregnant before and it wasn't the best time, maybe next year..

We had a blast playing in the Salmon Street Fountain, 8 giant firehoses aimed at the middle and Reese ran right through it! ok, i dared him. Luc chickened out, what are you a man or a mouse i asked, a mouse he replied laughing.. The day before, he started saying randomly "a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do".. we laughed for an hour over this one, i guess he heard it on a Scooby movie.

We spent a whole day at the Childrens Museum they had awesome water play, clay sculpting, huge random art scupture, theater with stage and costumes (Luc and Reese were rock stars and jammed to guitars and sang for 90 minutes like Mick Jagger while mom laughed hystericaly), tons of magnet balls, squares, Kapla building blocks, and on and on..

We also spent a whole day at the Discovery Museum Forestry Center where they offered a real river raft simulation ride, a parachute jumping simulation, tractors to climb on and best of all 4 different jungles to visit around the world from riding the trans siberian train in Russia to being on the canopy in Brazils rainforest to a jungle jeep ride through Africa to China, very educational and fun the best combination.

Yes we rested a little but not much, we were busy going to Lazer tag, park days and hit a few indoor play places and parks too. I also got to visit my Great Aunt and her daughter an old friend from high school and a friend from the South Bay who lives here now. It was so nice to reconnect, i feel that whereever i go, there are family and friends new and old and warm houses to welcome us.

9/12/07 Warm welcome from our neighbor at camp

We left camp and drove all of 3 miles and pulled right into an RV park, we were tired from loading up, group sleeping, lugging all of our clothes and bedding and toys and cleaning the whole camp. I had laundry to do and Steve ran off to town to find internet and work for awhle.

He has found plenty of consulting work to do and a few new projects as well, so it looks like traveling and working PT from the road is not an issue at all. We still have bills, debt, house payments, etc.. and with no selling going on with our house, we have been juggling that also, even the rental market is slow. So it seems to be working out, traveling, Steve working a bit, i do most of the navagating and care of the RV, etc..

So one of the fun things at the RV parks is meeting all the doggies, there are many more dogs than kids, and so we go in search of friends. Our neighbor had a littlle dog and we played with her for a bit and the next morning the lady came over and asked if we wanted to come over to watch cartoons and have coffee. In PT travel for 6 mos and FT travel for 2.5 mos, this was a first, i was so touched. Rita was a beautiful lady, the boys watched old fashioned cartoons and she told me about her life journey, she traveled with her dad for the last 2 years of his life and showed him the country, he had never traveled. She was a widower and after nearly 15 years she had married recently another widower she was 61, he was 70. She told me it was hard to meld lives at that age but she seemed to be enjoying the challange. We talked homeschooling and she told me about her 15 yr old grandson who is her big delight, he has no dad, so she stays close and had recently bought him a drumset and his whole life had turned around. Basically she opened her heart to me, I felt it, she poured on us, and when we left, Reese gave her one of his beautiful drawings and she was so touched. She sent us a heartfelt email and i felt that we just adoped a new grandma. What a gift.

It is such a blessing when you really have those heart connections, it seems that many contacts are more on the surface and i love when the deep communion graces us. Thanks Rita for opening your heart and home to us that morning!

9/8/07 Camping trip with Oregon Unschoolers

Knowing that we'd be hangin in Portland for awhile, I joinded an unschool group hoping to find out about trips, happenings, etc.. and we got lucky and discovered a 5 day camping trip staying in cabins, on an island, near Lincoln City Oregon, which is on the coast 2 hours from Portland. We camping with about 100 folks, 15 families or so and anyone who wanted to led activiites from dancing, hooping (of course we led this), tons of art and crafts, beading, capture the flag, hiking, & discussion groups.

My favorites were a dad who talked about the theory that the lunar landing was a fake and he had photos and theories that were very convincing and the game of assassin. We played Assassin everyday and everyone started out with a name of someone they had to "kill" which you did by tapping them on the shoulder and saying "you're dead" but no one in the game could witness it or the kill was not valid and you had to try again. So it was a bonding game, you had to stick like glue to someone else and watch each other, it really provided lots of laughs and you did get to meet lots of folks as you moved from kill to kill. after you killed someone they gave you their name and you moved to that person. On the other hand it did make you a bit jumpy and once you got killed it was kind of a relief and you got to chill out for awhile, haha.

We got everyone hooked on bananagrams our favorite game, enjoyed amazing ocean and sunset views from the deck of the lodge, did henna tatoos, listened to guitar playing, cooked our meals and cleaned up for the group and walked on the beach everyday.

The boys made loads of friends and when we headed to Portland after our stay there we had some friends inviting us over, so nice. I actually read 2 books, i have not had much down time what with rolling into a new town every day or so and driving time. But when we crossed back over on the ferry and walked through the parking lot to our motorhome, Reese walked in the door and said "Gosh it feels good to be home" . I felt the same way, the RV really feels so homey, and I love that i can spend 90 minutes and clean the whole thing.

9/7/07 Pet a Tiger Lately?

What a find, today we headed south 5 miles or so and found a wild life petting zoo, I have never heard of such a place, no way would they have this in California, to much liability baby. But here in Oregon anything goes..
www.gameparksafari.com in bandon oregon, really amazing, we pet and held in our laps a 6 week old baby White Siberian Tiger!
Also we pet a 5 month old black bear and a 3 month old Lynx. We also got to hold ferrets, skunks, possum, and we got to see a whole slew of other critters, tigers, lions, panthers, 4 horned sheep (that was a site), white peacocks, and many others.

When that baby tiger is about 4 yrs old, they will put him in the cage with the female and let them mate, she is already there waiting but the can't put him in now or she would kill him. Apparently they seperate him asap from the mom beacause when his eyes open at about 2 weeks old he will bond with whatever he sees and they want that to be a human if they ever hope to handle him as an adult. As cute as they are when they are babies, you really never forget that they are wild animals and they will hurt you in a playful way if you are not careful. They let us pet the bear while he sucked happily on a bottle of milk, but when the milk ran out, the petting was over and he was wild again.

Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me, all of life is so thrilling to me, humans, animals, trees, oceans and rivers, the beauty surrounds us at every turn. It really feeds me, i don't feel like i am in need so much of home, community, familiarity, in the same way, instead I feel fed everyday by the beauty all around, nature talks to me, holds me, loves me, inspires me. I really feel at one with all of it more than ever before and deeply in appreciation.

Everyday i must say 20 times. oh my god, look at that tree, wow, unbelievable, that moon, those clouds, oh look a hawk, a squirrel, oh my a train, oh look at the lights, it is so beautiful! Look Reese, look out the window, oh my god, look at this bridge, it is so amazing.. yeah, i'm loving it all!!

Did i mention the Oregon Dunes, 100 miles of coastline, giant white sand dunes, rugged jagged coastline, driftwood galore, and desolate, uncrowded, ok it is mid sept already, most of the crowds are gone, and it is pristine, peaceful, gorgeous landscape. Thank god steve wanted to play golf!

I got to visit an old friend today, Lily who i met in Maui 12 years ago, a girl as obsessed with pursuing the spiritual path as i was, we hit is off right away. And it is that same fuel that keeps us in touch today, Lily took us to some of her favorite beach spots to hunt for Agates and introduced us to her friends and we felt like locals for a few days. She also mentioned that there was a 3 bedroom house on a lake with a dock for rent for $1000 monthly just outside of Florence where she lives, sounds good to me.

9/6/07 Bandon - The Oregon Coast

We had planned to head towards Eugene.. but Steve wants to play golf.. so we are going to Bandon, just South of Newport, apparently it is rated the #2 public course in the US. We blew through Roseburg (the town i was born in, i did stop to get a coffee, it took 3-4 hours to get to the Pacific Ocean. It is slow driving in the MoJo mobile, but all the better to see the countryside. Having always been one who likes to drive 80 on the highway, is is an adjustment to drive 55-60, i feel like my mother if you want to know the truth, but most things seem to slow down as time marches on.

We lucked out, we found an RV park with a hot tub, sweet! I must admit, i do miss taking baths, that is not found while camping, but some of the upscale parks do have jacuzzis, and it is very nice to soak. So we drove through Banden a very cute town with incredible beaches, they have massive jagged rocks all along the coastline and there are dozens of rivers that run into the ocean which makes for great rock collecting and treasure hunting. It was too windy to even get out of the car much less play on the beach, so we headed for the hot tub instead and hoped it would be calmer the next day.

9/4/07 Lava Beds and Crater Lake

On the way to Klamath Falls and our nice hotel with a jacuzzi we stopped for the afternoon at Lava Beds Nat'l Monument and hiked down into several caves and tunnels underground that were created by Lava moving beneath the surface. With our headlamps we headed down 12 feet or so into the earth and in some spots the caves were only 18 inches high, so the kids of course loved the adventure of doing the duck walk to get really low to the ground. Yes we quacked to be fully immersed in the full duck walk experience.

Several times there was a fork in the road and we had to make a choice which way to go, this turned into a discussion about life and the seeming choices we make and how really we are just following the way the cave takes us.. i was giggling at least.

That night I did 6 loads of laundry, took a nice long soak and slept like a baby!

It is the season of cleaning, the playa dust is everywhere and we are trying to get it out before we bring the clean
clothes and bedding back in, took Steve and I about 4 hours to strip it out. We shopped and took care of all our internet business and finally headed to Crater Lake in the late afternoon. First we passed by Klamath Lake, huge, very beautiful and it is starting to look like Oregon, very green.

Only about an hour to Crater Lake Park, another 30 minutes until we could actually view the lake. What was an exploding
volcano about 7000 years ago is now the deepest lake in the US, almost 1900 feet deep. The view is remarkable, i had seen
it prior only from an airplane and really looked forward to a closer look. It was a brief look because it was 5pm and it was cold, it felt great to be cold after a week in the desert! We enjoyed the view from all around the lake and then headed out of the park to Diamond Lake for the night.

We have pulled out all our warm clothes and we don't have many but it is cold!! It's nice actually, i am ready for fall in Oregon, rain, colder days, layers!!

9/2/07 Finale Day 7 at Burning Man

Chill mellow day, relaxing morning hanging out playing with the kids in our village, it really feels like a village here, you know it takes a village to raise a child, that line has always appealed to me. I think sometimes about living in community, kids all running together, communal meals and gatherings, one one hand it sounds really lovely. I think i would be great to do like one week a month, to look forward to, miss the group, but then i really enjoy alone and quiet too, being just with my kids. I guess that's why i like the homeschool camping trips so much, community for a week, once a month would be perfect, isn't it great what you're looking for is available.

Of course the community at Burning Man is a bit more colorful.. Reese remarked to me that he does like it better than the "real world" because anything is possible, you can do anything! It really does rewire your brain when you are here, I got very inspired creatively, I got very opened, and the celebration of diversity and expression is transformational truly! Everyone is so expressing their individuality that the possibilities for expression really get stretched out, you go way beyond tolerance to a state of real appreciation and celebration for each and every person you see and meet, it is hard to describe the experience but i can say it feels like magic.

We got to hang out with several of our friends today at center camp including Megan the Cat who we met at High Sierra she is a new teacher on a cool private school in Ojai and she feel in love with the boys! Reese hooped for the masses with 2 and 3 hoops, got his body painted with flames, played cards with new friends while Luc handed out ice (by the cube) and candy to anyone and everyone, he just love to give things away. I tell Reese he is going to make all the money and Luc is going to give it all away, they are a perfect pair!

In the afternoon we went to the Temple of Forgiveness where folks were still writing poetry, letters to parents, ex lovers, friends who died that they wanted closure or healing with, it was a pretty emotional place. Reverand Billy Bob somebody was there with a choir and they had a service of sorts.. he married two women, that was a sweet exchange and gave a great talk on forgiveness as a practice of unconditional acceptance. I forgive you, i allow you to be as you are, i don't have an idea of how you should be, or a role you must play for me, rather i discover you and celebrate you as you are.. it was very good.

Reese in the meanwhile was drawing.. i had gotten him a few big boards and a marker and he was going to town, he had 10 or so drawings and had made a sign saying Drawing Tatoos, want one? and sure enough folks were coming up interested, some picked his drawings and some asked for custom jobs, and after he drew on them, they usually gave him a gift in return. Many people came up and asked if they could photograph him saying he had captured the true spirit of Burning Man, it is similar to another organization i belong to that says their motto is love and service.

That night they burned the Temple and with it Reese's drawing boards, he really wanted to bring them with us but they were big and heavy and we are living in an RV.. so it was a great chance to talk about why they burn it at the end, how it symbolizes the impermanance of everything and how when you let go of what is now, you allow for what will be..
ok Reese said reluctantly..

We packed up, got 3 hours of rest and headed out at 2am, it took us 2.5 hours to drive the 9 miles back out to the road, we were grateful to be doing the road at night when it was cool instead of 95 degrees in the daytime. We drove to Klamath Falls and got a nice hotel with a pool, spa, and internet of course!

9/1/07 Burning Man Day 6

It's pretty amazing, it seems everyday is sweeter than the next, we play, we roam, we meet cool folks, we endure heat, wind, & dust galore loving every minute, we set out sporting goggles, dust mask, camelback and sunscreen and see what the day brings us. We wave as we pass the theme camps, stop and dance, hoop, chat, eat, drink, whatever and it is always a fun adventure!



Steve arrived last night from his 5 day silent retreat with Adyashanti looking very relaxed and happy, i was happy too, I got the morning to myself and he got to cuddle with the boys all morning. I ventured out early, didn't quite make sunrise, but close. I rode the playa, took in the amazing views of as the desert took on the morning colors and happened upon a mini meditation center and cruised right on in.. I sat for 20 minutes or so, feeling very peaceful and serene and then i headed out to see some sights. I stopped at several camps to look at the art work, mostly paintings they had displayed. I danced a bit and then checked my program for a yoga class.



15 years of doing yoga pretty regularly but this last year it has fallen away, but oh did the 90 minute class feel great! Our teacher arrived dressed like a cat in fishnet tights and leopard danskin, he was from SF (as are a huge population of burners) and we said we were gonna burn cause today was burn day (they burn the man tonight, the main event). After class i headed across the street to another camp who was offering coffee, tea, juice and muffins, very nice.

It is all about gifting at Burning Man, everyone is giving something, giving massages, healing classes, cooking, hooping and dancing classes, lots of classes about how to be more green in your life, making smoothies, snowcones, lots of cocktails and dance camps, the program of activities was quite thick and there is a lot going on all the time, in addition to just walking around and looking at art exhibits, art cars and playing and climbing on everything. It really is like a playground for primarily adults, although my kids enjoyed everything very much and everyone was so glad to see them and play with them.

At noon I got a massage which was fantastic and on the way back to Kidsville I spotted my favorite structure, botton floor was living room and entertaining center, mid level bedroom and top level view deck to see the playa, very creative and fuctional.

Roaming the playa there were parties everywhere cause it was burn day, we found a talent contest and Reese did a little hooping and was gifted with a necklace and lots of applause and love!

We danced on stage and saw a few dance acts at The Cowboy Bar called the Deep End, we swung on 80 foot high swings, we chased down a few art cars for rides, we played a game on the playa with giant dice, we watched 20 or more sky divers jumping with colorful banners on their parachutes -what a show that was, and we had dinner at Camp Carp and the boys got rides on their remote control dog and entertained the crowds!

The evening was an extravaganza! Fire spinning galore and the Burning of The Man, all the amazing arts cars were out and the energy was high, we fell into bed very tired after all that, the kids fell asleep in the bike trailer half way through..

8/31/07 Day 5 of The Burn

We chilled out today and it was a good thing.. around mid day we finally left Kidsville and headed for Center Camp which is a
giant circle of amazing paintings, shade, music, and performers. A giant storm blew in, apparently the biggest storm in over 6 years, we got hurricane winds, total white out conditions and rain that lasted in total for a few hours, we stayed right where we were and still had our goggles and dust masks on.

It is quite a site to see Mother Nature do her thing in the desert, it brings about a feeling of emmense respect and awe as well as bringing about the experience of being right sized, you feel small and yet part of this massive expression of all that is.

It also is a reminder of the impermanence of all that you can see, it is all so transitory and that is part of the beauty and the mystery. Watching the desert is like seeing the whole picture; life & death, storm & quiet, light & dark, intense beauty & desolation, and in the end it delivers you to the silence, totality, everything and nothing.. quite an experience..

At the end of the storm the show continued and we had art in the sky.. a double rainbow that was a perfect half circle covering the entire sky, the cheering on the playa was like a song, we climbed up on a 12 foot tower to take in the view of the playa celebrating Mother Nature showing off.

While hanging at Center camp we sat in on an awesome drum circle, saw dancers, listened to poetry, did some beading, saw our friend Andrea from the South Bay, saw our friend Mike that we met camping in Tahoe who is from Scotland, twirled some poi balls, climbed on this giant yellow metal structure that is a maze that you drop golf balls into and then twirl it to try to get them out, and made some great trades. There was a guy setting up this alter of necklaces, stones, and he told the kids that could offer a gift and take a gift, they had train whistles and necklaces to offer and found some amazing treasures. They visited the site later and another patron took a gift and offered $20 which somehow got handed to Reese, who was as you can imagine amazingly happy!!

We later headed out to roam the playa and see what we see, that is really my favorite thing, it is always a new adventure and seeing the oh so extravagant constructs of the playa through the eyes of the boys makes it all the more magical for me. We went to the giant chill dome and had a 2 hour wrestling and tickling session on the pillows and then got to dance and climb on the big cages in the dome, we missed the big circus and acrobatic shows that don't start till 11pm or so, but what a full day of adventure and wonder.