Balance in the Mountains (Road-trip Moab-Ohio)
“Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about un-becoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.” – Paulo Coelho
Yet another season has come and gone, with what to show for it? So much. So amazingly much.
This summer taught me lessons in friendship, love, honesty, communication, compassion, travel, safety, FUN and more! I am ever so grateful for the friends I have made, and the memories with them.
Alas, my time in Moab has come to an end. It is the time that I pack up my Taco, with my best friend, the furry Aussie Doodle (Miss Ocoee) and head on some adventures.
So, where to?
Upon leaving Moab, I drove southeast. On to Durango! Where Ocoee and I look to freecampsites.net to find a winding dirt road up a mountain with the perfect overlook spot to camp. We slept in the next day, and as we started to do our morning play session a van showed up with a local climber and his pup. We chatted awhile, and he let me in on the newfound knowledge that we were actually very close to a challenging climbing area! What an awesome find!
After walking around the mountain a bit, it was time to head out. We had somewhere to be…
Balance Mountain Retreat 2017
Taking place in Moffat, Colorado at Joyful Journey Hot Springs- it was a good drive away. But a neat one, driving through the mountain roads of southern Colorado. A peaceful drive through monumental beauty.
Once arriving at Joyful Journey Hot Springs, I set up camp with my truck. Tiffany and I shared a site- we were not done being roommates yet! Camp is pretty easy to set up when you live out of your truck.
We had our meet-and-greet in the conference room, which was a beautiful room with lots of natural lighting, high ceilings, and mandalas all over the place! It ended up being where we spent most of our time, except for the hot springs… a lot of time was spent in the wonderful hot springs.
We “broke the ice” with a “driving” game. You picked a person you did not know, place your hand on their back, and with their eyes closed you direct them around the room with light pressure through your fingers. Making sure not to run them into anything or anyone, of course. I played with Jeff, who was a good bit taller than myself and quickly realized the problem with this, making it slightly harder to see. Like a car with mostly blind spots. But even though I almost ran him into people, it was still a lot of fun and a great way to get us all together and laughing!
That night we had an inspiring yin yoga class, led by the wonderful and beautiful Alex Reynaldo. It was so relaxing that after the matter I went straight to my camp and slept the night away.
Friday was full of fun activity! Seven o’clock in the morning brought around Michelle Griffith’s first yoga class of the retreat- an invigorating flow that really woke you up! Followed shortly by a delicious breakfast (I cannot say enough about the food they had. Everything was healthy, delicious and so filling. If I could have them cater my life, that would be great.) Any time that was open between classes, was free for hot spring action. So you can best believe many of us were squeezing in every chance we could to relax in that hot healing mineral water. Plenty of times I showed up still wet from a quick dip!
One community that has caught my attention this summer is Yoga Slackers. Considering that they are about Yoga, Slacklining, AcroYoga, Adventure, and Conditioning… they seem like my type of people. And reckoning that Michelle and Alex are a part of that community, I know they are my type of people! This whole retreat was designed and ran by these lovely yoga slackers, and it spiked my interest even more. We got to experience some of their conditioning, which definitely helps as you continue to practice these intense but awesome sports. I highly recommend looking into their retreats, if not only their conditioning. It can make all the difference.
With workshops on AcroYoga and Slacklining throughout the day, we were all pretty whipped and ready for something calming. Which they eagerly delivered through a “Therapeutics and ‘Thai Fly'” class. If you are not interested in AcroYoga because you think it is too intense, you should look into the therapeutic side of it, and definitely into getting a Thai massage. Holy crapola, it is such a neat thing. It is different than a regular spa massage, as the masseur uses your body to stretch and massage you in much of the treatment. It also can improve flexibility, posture, balance, correct body alignments, dissolve energy blockages, raise energy levels and stamina! If any of that sounds good to you, I suggest checking it out.
From our therapeutics class, we flowed into a sound healing led by Alex and Jeff. It was such an immersive experience, allowing the sounds to flow around you and feel their vibrations and how it worked with the body and energy of a healing space.
Sound is a vastly underestimated form of healing in today’s society. We are frequently bombarded with noise pollution and we do not tend to think twice about how it is truly affecting us. Think about the feelings that you get when you hear a song that holds a lot of meaning to you- do you even realize how deep that goes? A song can bring up memories and goosebumps, overall true emotion. Why shouldn’t it be that sound can be used to heal? Try a singing bowl, for instance. It is a great way to start to feel the vibration of sound through your body and become in tune with it. This was another magical experience that the retreat ended up giving to us. Alex has this beautiful large crystal singing bowl, and one night we kept gathering around it. At a point, we decided to put water in it and see how it worked with the vibration of the bowl (super neat by the way). Then we would stick out heads in the bowl and you were truly surrounded by the vibrations!
Retreat joke: how do you drown a hippy? You put water in a singing bowl.
Saturday started off with a Yoga class led by Alex at the bright hour of 7 a.m. The day that followed was similar in structure to the day before, with conditioning, slacklining, and AcroYoga workshops. But there was plenty of differences in what we were working on and how much everyone had progressed!
That night supplied Slacker Jam & Party time, which was amazing in its own right. Everyone was beautifully wrapped up in their passions. Some were hooping, others working on silks, AcroYoga and of course the singing bowl.
Sunday brought the last day of the retreat. An early flow with Michelle, followed by breakfast, and… A TRIO ACRO WORKSHOP! Whhhhaaaattttt haha truly, it was rad.
I will let the pictures do the talking here…
The closing circle was moving, to say the least. Even though we had only spent a long weekend together, trust and bonds had been formed that will never be forgotten. We had been vulnerable together. Learned together. Fallen together and rose together. We had healed, together. Time does not matter when it comes to connections like that, it could be a few minutes of meeting, or you could know them your whole life, but when you make that connection, it defies time limits and is REAL.
While some of us did have to leave from there, quite a few of us were not done yet! We packed up, hopped in our cars and drove to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.
What a sight that is… I have been to the sand dunes at the Outer Banks many times with my family. But this was something else entirely. You are driving through Colorado and look over at the base of the mountains to see these ginormous sand dunes. In the middle of nowhere. Like something out of Egypt. All tucked away at the base of mountains. It is mind-boggling, really. And not easy to climb up either. But man are they fun to come down!
Honestly, I was not sure if I was going to be able to make this retreat. And I had no idea what to expect from it. But I am so grateful that I called my mom and heard those words of encouragement, letting me know that I needed to be there. And then to be surrounded by such a wonderful community of people, to learn and heal so much with them… I am grateful to all of you. And thank you, Michelle and Alex, for putting it all together. You guys rock.
Glacier
So where was I off to next?
Glacier National Park, because it is obviously on the way from Colorado to Ohio. HA.
I drove back through Utah, close enough to Moab to see the La Sals – man, was it tempting to head back there- but I kept trucking, knowing that I am on a journey now. There are things I need to do, people I need to see and places I need to go. So I continued northward. Up through Salt Lake, reminiscing upon the time Noah and I almost moved there, onward through smokey Idaho via the Sacajawea Historic Byway, admiring the beauty and vastness of the land and the history it holds. And the further north I went, the more smoke I saw. I recall that when I arrived in Salamon and went into a gas station, where I asked the attendant if any of the roads were closed due to the fires (there was a quite dreadful mass of smoke looming above the route I was supposed to take). Believe it or not, no closures. This surprised me more as I continued my drive and saw evidence of fire destruction, and multiple times could actually see the smoke rising from the trees. It is a scary thing when you look up and realize that you can stare right into the sun because it is only a red dot masked by the smoke. When you see signs that say you cannot stop your car due to fire activity. When you realize how massive and destructive these forces can be and that people are out risking their lives to fight them. My heart is with the firefighters, their families, and the families these fires affect.
I arrived in Missoula that night and camped at the KOA, after trying to find a free campsite outside of the city and realizing many are unavailable due to the fires at the moment. Between the lack of wanting to burn to death and the need for a shower, KOA seemed like the most viable option. The lady at the front desk was adorable, and when I asked her if I could have a campsite with trees, she pointed out that you are not allowed to hang hammocks or clotheslines, but since she did not know what slacklining was, I was in the clear! Oh goodness, I love people.
The Missoula KOA is great, in case you were wondering. 10/10 would recommend to a friend.
The next day I drove up to Whitefish, my true destination, in hopes to catch the first on my list of friends before she left for a trip. When Ocoee and I arrived we headed to the dog park to let her have some play time. It had been a long car drive.
We love the dog park in Whitefish. It is easily the best I have been to. And the views are not bad either! Funny enough, I saw a miniature poodle and of course had to talk to the owner about it (poodles and doodles!). We had probably been talking for a good twenty minutes before she put together with her spectacular memory that we actually had met before, on my prior visit. At the dog park, in fact! Well, that led to more good conversation and what I believe to be a beautiful friendship. Kara ended up giving me some good camp spot ideas, and after picking up dinner at Montana Coffee Traders (try their food, you will not regret it) and purchasing bear spray (not cheap, but necessary), I took her advice and headed out to Red Meadow Lake for the night.
I do not suggest reading a bear spray manual before going to bed, while you are camping out in the middle of nowhere. Might put you on edge a bit.
Unfortunately, I missed my friend Alexandra, she started her journey before I got back into town (her stuff is amazing. Check it out!), but my friend Craig had arrived! Kara, Craig and I all met up after breakfast and walked around the town. Few things are better than genuine conversations and catching up with friends. And silly pups. They showed me around a bit, and we ended up sharing pizza and Whiteclaw’s for dinner (La Croix, meet popsicles from my childhood summers, meet alcohol). And because Kara is a saint, she let me camp at her place for the night.
The sun rose yet again to bring on the weekend, and a morning adventure at the dog park. A lovely surprise- golden doodles! Ocoee played with them as I chatted with their “parents” about the local news. A threat had been placed on the schools, one that was legitimate enough to shut down not only the school targeted but those surrounding. No athletic events would be held over the weekend, and they were not sure if there would be school on Monday. The world is a scary place right now…
After the dog park, I headed to the Rockfish gym, where I got to talk to one of the owners, Whitey. We chatted a bit as I got a day pass to the gym. It is a neat place! A climbing/bouldering gym with a fitness center and showers (my original reason for going), but I quickly became distracted by another find. They had a slackline setup! I had been asking around, so I was aware that Whitefish lacks in the slackline community, so this was a great find! A gibbon two-inch rachet system right in the middle of the bouldering area. Yeeeaasssss. And fun presumed.
After playing for awhile, it gained some boulders’ attention, and they came and joined me. It would be so easy to stay in Whitefish. This was my second time there and the people just suck me right into their lovely hearts and minds. My kind of place for sure. But the jam had to end, as it was time to see my friend Jack!
It is always a pleasure hanging with this dude. Big heart, open mind. He let me set the lines up at his house and we played on them a bit before going to dinner and catching up. Mama Blanca’s did not disappoint.
Oh coincidences, I love them. We got to talking about what to do while I was in town and he just so happened to mention East Glacier, where earlier that day I had just figured out my friend Brett was located at the moment. I reached back out to Brett, and the next morning we were on our way to Many Glacier! Do not be fooled- Glacier National Park is HUGE. It took us a good three hours to drive to get to Many Glacier from Whitefish. Probably did not help that the Sun Road was partially closed due to the fires, but still was quite the trek.
Upon arrival, we got to meet Brett at the Many Glacier Hotel, which is easy to find since it is basically the only thing there. I will say, that most of what I have seen in Montana has been breathtaking, but East Glacier takes the cake. It has that very dramatic mountainous scenery that just demands your attention. And snow was already appearing! The icing on the cake.
I was gearing Ocoee up with her backpack when Jack reminded me that she would not be allowed to hike in the National Park. Turns out, I am glad she did not come. It was only a short hike, and she was left in the comfort of the truck (trust me, she had it good), but if she had come on the hike, I doubt it would have ended well. We saw two good sized black bears. One across the lake and the other maybe ten feet off the trail from us on our way back from the falls. This time I did not reach for my camera though, as I instead had the bear spray ready. Luckily, it was not very interested in us, skittish even, and left us alone. But if you had a dog going off at it, I am sure it could have ended very differently.
Sunset on the hike by the lake and dinner at the Swiftcurrent Restaurant (which was surprisingly local, eclectic and very well done!), it was a night for the books. But not to be finished yet. I ended up getting to join Brett at the Many Glacier Hotel for a party with the workers there. What a fun group! And it was nice talking to my desert friend who agreed it was too soon for it to be so cold.
Morning came, and those plans that were made late at night for a tremendous hike failed to come to fruition as sleep won out. 😀 Back to Whitefish we went, enjoying the view and even taking in the part of the sun road that we were allowed on. I look forward to seeing the whole thing someday.
I swear I do more than eat on trips, but when we got back to Whitefish we were plenty hungry so we went to Craggy’s and got to try out their new menu. (Double thumbs up to their nachos). After a quick visit with Kara and Craig once more, it was time to go. I said my goodbyes and started back on the road. Right back and past where Jack and I had just come from.
O-H-I-O
This year alone, I have driven through and/or visited seventeen states. On my journey from Moab to Ohio, I crossed off ten of those. Montana by far being the largest. I was not sure if I would ever find the end of that ha and can someone please tell me why Illinois was the first state I had to pay to drive in but definitely had the worst roads? (Not happy about that).
But I was coming back with a purpose. There is someone I had to meet, for the first time…
Find out more about this person next week 😀
Love & Light