dream walkings

2015

Big Sur is the kind of place whose intensity liberates you from the grip of your mind and all the incessant noise and chatter of your thoughts. Its beauty is so shocking that I am really able to let go and forget everything else. There wasn’t a beach that I didn’t want to climb down to and sprawl out on. The idea of a solitary nap in the sun on an inaccessible beach was intoxicating and drew my thoughts back to a particular adventure in Hawaii when I was just 18 – but that is another story. Big Sur was not an easy place to settle and the pioneers faced many hardships unthinkable to me.

One of the things I love best about the Northern coast of California is the concoction of mind altering trees and the surprising life of the microrefugia that the rugged landscape nurtures. The Firs, Sitka Spruce, Hemlock, Cedar, Bay, Sargent Cypress, Redwood, Eucalyptus – just to name a few, all conspire to draw me out and away. I would like the last scent I smell as I leave this earth to be fresh cleansing scents of Eucalyptus, Lavender, Bay Laurel, and my favorite type of Sage. The trees here never fail to inspire my imagination. Their wispy and dramatic arms reaching ever out breed curiosity, and make me want to take an abrupt detour into the protection of their wilderness to see what adventures lie hidden inside. I think at the very minimum there would be a cool silent calm that would spread through my body, expanding my sense of self and connection to everything around me.