I bow to thee, oh Randi !

Randi came and rescued me on Tuesday. She flew in and stuffed me with some much needed protein! She is a rare gem stone , we are together once again on the open road. It's snowing today in Tao's, NM. We are nestled in a funky hostel sipping tea eating apple sauce  and planning our trip back East. Stay posted :)

30 Days and 30 nights of Yoga

On our last road trip I had a secret agenda ,  one was obviously looking  for a new home. But I was also scoping out a place to take a yoga teacher training . Within the last year of my life, yoga had began to consume my left over hours , and filled me with something I can not explain or compare , but something I have searched for since the day I started darting around this lonely planet in that search. 

I liked the idea of becoming a certified teacher, but more so I just wanted to study yoga deeply, I wanted to understand how it entered me and did what it did .  I also knew it would be hard , and take me away from my habits and comfort; caffeine, sugar, communication, ( the cell and apple.) I would be left with me. On top of it the real reason I could do it was I was given a generous gift; funds to support it! 

So back to the beginning , I had that in the back of my head during our last trip cross this beautiful country. I had done some research and wanted to see some particular studios along the way. When we went to Sedona, AZ, I remembered a spot I had seen on the Internet and we stopped bye for a hot minute on our way to Santa Fe. Since that stop I knew I had to go back and spend a month there. 

So I enrolled for the Fall session packed up my car at the end September and drove out to Sedona. The month was painful , long , and wilding rewarding. I knew every day waking up at 3 am hiking up the road to a 3 hour morning yoga class that it was good for me and I would appreciate it once it was over. But , I had moments and hours and some whole days of despair , or boredom, or just plain exhaustion. The chanting , vegetarian diet and 8- 10 hours of yoga a day cleaned me out, things started to look clearer and I  was able to sit just longer with myself .

Homesickness sunk in pretty hard too and I wanted out of the wacky spiritual community of massage therapists and clairvoyants. I was wanting everything I wanted so badly to get away from ; the leaves , the crisp chill of fall, New England style houses ,the color and fireplaces. Arizona’s beautiful, don’t get me wrong, looking up at the canyons I would feel like I was under the sea , tiny and protected by this solidity and power. But the houses are all the same color and design. It's as if everything is too perfect too together , as if you are hovering above it all but can’t get close enough feel any of it. I became aware quite quickly that I didn’t want to move to the Southwest.

I’ve always wondered how people could spend their lives in the same place they grew up. To me, it seemed like settling, and not to mention boring. I will always feel that need to travel. I believe it because it enables me expand my small world just enough to see a bit brighter. But I also am aware that I am no different from these "small town folks" who choose to stay close to what they love. No matter what, there is nothing that will take the place of that place. It’s not necessarily a place it’s a feeling and maybe we can learn to take those feelings with us, but I know that once it goes missing,  I will be back on the lookout, and will not stop until I get it back once again. 

  

Part Deux

Coming to you Nov. 2009

MAP

OBAMA !

Give me serenity Sedona

The drive through the valley from Flagstaff to Sedona is gorgeous. The red rocks are such a sight, grande buttes and flattop mesas carved in sandstone. Some lucky folks have built these fabulous houses high into these rocks. Our campground was a few miles outside the downtown area, a cute family spot with a stream running through it. It was hot, so we set up camp, and ran for the stream to sun bathe and cool off! After a few hours of playing in the stream we set out for food. The local coop had a salad bar, and we made ourselves giant salads! We spent the rest of the day wandering the city, it's not much of a city, a lot of dinky shops and tourists. That night we visited the vortexes for sunset, which are energy spots located around Sedona. Randi wanted to show off her cooking skills on the campfire so she bought corn, potatoes, and fresh veggies making up a delicious dinner under the big starry sky. 

Day two in Sedona we visited the town of Jerome , which was about an hour away. It's a mile high little hippie town that feels it doesn't belongs to the USA. The town is built on a giant hillside with tiny cobblestone roads running through it. That night we checked out another vortex at Cathedral Rock, but it was too buggy to get to the top so we just enjoyed the view from the base. Then we decided to give Whitey, our car, a much needed bath and cleaned him out so we could prepare for our journey back east. We cooked ourselves another campfire dinner and fell asleep to the sounds of the creek. 

Fresh Produce in Fresno

After San Fran, we headed for Yosemite National Park. Once again to was beautiful and unlike any of the other places we have been. They are famous for having huge granite rocks, that hard core climbers like to climb. We saw a few waaay up on a rock called El Capitan which is 3000 ft tall, and wished we could do it too. They are also famous for having massive waterfalls. We went to the bottom of Bridalveil Fall which comes crashing from 620 ft. This is not even close to the biggest fall in the park but it is by far the largest i have ever seen. It sounded like thunder cracking at times. We walked towards the base of it but couldn't get too close because it was peak flow season and we were getting soaked.
We got to Fresno and stayed with Barbara in her coop housing complex where they live "Green." Everyone kept asking us why we were going to Fresno, the only thing that is there is a lot of fresh fruit. Well it just so happens that we love fresh fruit, and when we got to Fresno Barbara happened to make us a bowl of fresh fruit salad. The quickest way to a girls heart is with a fresh fruit salad!! We soaked in the hot tub and slept like babies. Luckily we had laundry to do in the morning, so we were forced to relax by the pool for half the day and take in some delicious vitamin D. We drove for the rest of the day as far as we could go and made it to Kingman, AZ.

Grand Canyon
Walking up to the Grand Canyon was like seeing the galaxy. We just walked out of the main lodge and weren't expecting it to be right there, but there is was, it stopped our breathe and brought Sam to tears. Everyone was telling us it was possible to hike in and out of the in a day, but we didn't make it there until noon. We decided to go as far as we can and still get back by dark safely. Going down wasn't too bad, except for all the mules we kept passing that left the trails a bit smelly. We made it about halfway down the canyon in 2 1/2 hours to Indian Gardens (4.5 miles of trail) It got pretty hot, close to 100, so things got pretty challenging but it felt good getting dirty and exploring. The hike back up took a bit longer but it was nice to take our time and soak in the views of the sun starting to set. We met a park ranger, Courtney on the way up and she was nearing the end of her shift so she walked out of the canyon with us. We pried her for a lot of facts about the area and the canyon. She hikes the canyon daily, in polyester, with a 40lb pack, she is pretty bad ass. We mad up to the top just as the sun set and decided we wanted to get a head start for the next day and and get away from all the bloody tourists. So we drove to Flagstaff got a good meal and a good rest in the Days inn.

See updated Pictures

"Cafe Gratitude" and that city we are in.

The first day we spent in San Francisco, well, actually Alameda, we decided we needed a day of rest since we have been going non stop. We slept in, did some yoga, and laid in the sun for a bit. That night we went out to whole foods for produce, they tried to charge us 11 bucks for a few cherries, and we decided we don't really like Whole Foods, farm stands are where it's at. But we were able to discover Cafe Gratitude, they had a stand in the whole foods and decided we must go looking for it in the city the next day.
We walked in over 10 miles throughout the day... literally, I google mapped it to check. By walking so far we really got to see the city and there are a lot of hills so we got a good workout too. Speaking of working out, people go crazy over running out here. I mean people run everywhere, no really EVERYBODY runs out here. It became a little much and made it hard to walk in some places without getting stampeded. We made it to Golden Gate Park and then found our little haven for lunch. Cafe Gratitude, is a macrobiotic restaurant basically dedicated to gratitude, for food, self, and love. Each item on the menu is a affirmation so that when you order you must say: " I am _" we enjoyed the macro bowls Randi had the "I am honorable" and Sammy had the "I am whole" we had a beautiful lunch but it was much more than lunch. We are big fans.