Joshua Tree National Park

Originally I intended to hit all of the southern Californian deserts. I thought I'd head to the Mojave and Death Valley after I explored Joshua Tree. However, I've been accepted as an intern at the Gazebo preschool at Esalen. Therefore, I need to cut my desert journeys short.

Joshua Tree has been fabulous. Campsite #10 in the White Tanks Campground.... Home sweet home. I'm going to miss the heart shaped rock that overlooked my tent. And the flat rock where I spent my nights observing the night sky. So many stars! The sky is I think what impresses me the most in the desert. And I do love these funny ancient trees all around.

For now I head back to the ocean.

Anza-Borrego Desert

My next adventure has led me to the desert. I was feeling drawn here like some magnetic force was at work pulling me towards solitude and vast open spaces.

I headed to Anza-Borrego State Park, east of San Diego. Heavy downpours greeted me there. It felt symbolic to me, washing away the past, a new beginning starting for me there on my own in the desert. And when the rain passed, the world around me bloomed in every color imaginable. Desert flowers stretched across the landscape. I spent my time painting, photographing, and journaling. I hiked for miles on trails, sometimes losing the trail altogether chasing wildflowers.

Two of my friends from Esalen met me in Anza-Borrego... at that beautiful campsite I never wanted to leave. We shared quality time together, and I was grateful to have company after spending so much time by myself.

One day, as I sat alone overlooking a valley, experiencing silence like I'd never known, I started to sing. A song I'd learned at Esalen... "I want spirit to walk with me." As I sang, a wind came through the valley, visible, the way that wind is sometimes. I felt it come through me, as if I'd been touched by the divine. In this moment, with tears in my eyes, a pair of bighorn sheep ran past me where I sat. I don't know what it all means. At the time, it meant everything. Nirvana.