My trip to California, June 2007

I had a great time in California.  I miss it so much!  But more than the landscape and beautiful energy, I miss my friends; my spiritual family.  But as much as I miss it, and as much as Heather (my best friend) tries to talk me into moving back, it's just not the right timing.  I can feel that.

I was busy but I did almost everything on my list;  Group meditations with my spiritual circle, energy healings and Crystal bowl meditations with my beloved Gurus, MaDar and Trikaya;  Santa Cruz - bunny shoes!, World Bazaar, Indian food, I was disappointed that we didn't see the pink parasol guy but we did see a man in a leopard print unitard with a boa and cat-eye sunglasses playing guitar and singing loudly in the town square under a banner that read "Dyke March".  Call me crazy, but I thought "dykes" were female, ya know, lesbians?  Maybe he wants to be one.  We also saw a guy dressed from head to toe like a blue lego dinosaur.  Oh yes, Santa Cruz is always interesting.  That's why it's one of my favorite towns;   San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district - Ambience, Love of Ganesha, and Amoeba Records - they now have a stage where live bands play to promote their CD while you shop!;  My friend Vicki picked me up and we went hiking in my favorite place, Henry Cowell Redwood State Park - through the redwood trail, across the train bridge, down the tracks to the river where the beach is called The Garden of Eden.  We followed the river down a bit and found a rock to sit on to do a meditation...ahhhh...the rush of the water, the wind in the trees, connecting with nature;   Heather and I went to the M.A. Center to see Ammachi (Mata Amritanandamayi).  They call her the hugging saint because that's how she gives her darshan.  Thousands of people wait in line to get their hug from Amma and I'm proud to say I was one of them.  I LOVE her!  And I'm so lucky I got to see her.  She's usually there a week later in June;   I went with my friend Sharon to see MaDar's daughter Karen who had a brain aneurism.  She's only a year older than me and was always so full of life and now she seems trapped inside a body that won't let her be free.  We met some of our circle there and sat around her and did an energy healing; Then me, Heather and her daughter Elise went to a place called Safari West.  It's 170 acres of privately owned land in Santa Rosa where they have 100s of African animals.  We went on a safari tour and spent the night in a safari tent.  It was so fun!  I wish they would've had elephants, but it was great to see the giraffes, antelope, impala, cheetahs, ostriches, and tortoises (LOL, see the picture).  After that, we drove to the San Francisco airport to drop me off to come home.  We made a stop for lunch in Sausalito on the way.

It was a great vacation!  I can't wait to go again and see everybody.  In the meantime, I will continue my practice of meditating twice a day and will continue to practice my didgeridoo and soon...I think...will buy a set of crystal bowls to do group meditations.