on time spent in CA

Happy Monday Friends! I just returned yesterday evening from 10 days in California. Five days were dedicated to an Ayurveda intensive and five days were dedicated to a road trip down the coast with by brother.

The time spend on Ayurveda was really inspiring. Being in the company of great teachers and generally awesome people is certainly a good thing. The five days were dedicated to in person studies/work that it's pretty much impossible to do via long distance (such as an intro to pulse diagnosis) and reviewing material up to this point. It's amazing how much this time in CA added to my overall program. Now that I'm back I'll spend the next couple of weeks studying for my final and take that at the end of the month. My plan is to integrate Level 1 into my life and teaching then decide if I would like to continue on to Level 2, or if the nearly 600 hours I've spent on Level 1 is enough for me!

I met a lot of new, interesting and fabulous fellow students in CA. We had people from all over the US and into Canada, Brazil, and England. As is the case with yoga, Ayurveda brings together a group of people that I enjoy. I did spend a lot of time alone on this portion of the trip also. Not sure if I was feeling more introverted or if the long college like days had zapped me!

We were together for six intense hours of work. We were given 15 minute breaks a couple of times per day in which I went out for a walk through the nearby neighborhood to see and be with some pretty magical redwoods. I didn't want to sit at that point and felt really drawn to those trees!

I would set my timer on my watch, go for a walk, stop and take a few pics with my phone, send to loved ones at home. I always came back a few minutes short so I could do a lil yoga before going back to sitting and turning my brain back on and taking notes. :)

We finished on Tuesday at 5:00 then I went to Sacramento to meet with my brother. So much fun to meet up in CA! Fun times. We spent a night in Sacramento and watched Chris Robinson play a great show and hung out with some of Joel's friends. We left Wednesday morning for Santa Cruz, our next destination. Halfway between Sacramento and Santa Cruz we stopped at a winery for a wine tasting, that was literally on top of a 3,000 foot tall hill. Appropriately enough it was called Ridge Winery. Joel has drank this wine for a few years so it was super to be there! The setting was too much for words, the wine was delish, and again the company was great.

Santa Cruz was fun. We hung out at a sweet lil coffee shop, walked around town, ate at Italian, walked the pier and watched swimmers and paddle boarders and volleyball players. Geez, talk about an active bunch?!

From Santa Cruz we entered Highway 1, the two land road that winds around the Pacific Coast. We stopped often to take pictures. We almost ran out of gas and had to turn around when we realized, "that was THE last station for a long time."

Sixty miles down the coast there was a landslide so the road was closed. We were told to turn around and go back rather than driving the 48 miles across the mountain on a one lane road. We scoffed. We did grow up in Eastern KY. Wow, talk about a drive. We twisted, turned, twirled, and chugged our way up a mountain that overlooked Highway 1, overlooking the Pacific. It was crazy amazing.

It took us almost 15 minutes to go three miles. We had another 45 to go. They were not kidding about the road! But we chugged on and for those 48 miles there was not one single house in sight. I had never witnessed anything like this and it turned out to be a highlight of our trip.

After the beautiful but exhausting drive (poor Joel, I got to enjoy the views!) we stopped and spent the night at a small resort and spa outside of San Luis Obispo. We had a hot tub on our deck and got to fill it was hot mineral water from the spring. We drank wine while enjoying the detoxifying mineral bath. It was a long drive after all.

We arrived in the LA area on Friday after making a stop in Santa Barbara. We chose to stay in Santa Monica and I nearly peed my pants when I saw all the yoga studios within eye sight of where we were staying. Oh. My. Gosh. I was in yoga heaven.

Santa Monica was pretty great. We walked, talked, took in the sights, and had more awesome food. Friday night I danced on the side of the road on top of yet another mountain when I stubbed my big toe sooo badly. Badly, badly, badly. FYI, no wine was involved.

Yep, that's right. It was 7:30 and we couldn't find anything of those handy little Urgent Treatment Centers open. Joel thought we should go to the ER. Which we did.
So we got to add that lil adventure to the highlights of the trip. Who has been in the ER in CA? I have, I have!

With a busted up toe we opted to drive all around the LA area on Saturday. We saw all the areas, all the amazing streets we've seen on TV so often. We drove on Rodeo Dr, Melrose Ave. We drove up in the canyons and the Hollywood Hills. We saw Bel Air and Malibu. We saw it all folks.

Travels yesterday were smooth and easy with a 6:50 departure from LA. I'm happy to be home at the Big Blue House and looking forward to being at the studio this week and enjoying workshops with Leeann and mala making this weekend.

Can't wait to see all of you. I miss my yoga home while I'm away. CA may have a rockin' yoga scene, but they don't have a yoga tree house filled with awesomeness like all of you.