I woke up this morning feeling so peaceful. Yesterday’s foray into nature - into the unknown (!) was beautiful, and I’m reminded that EVERY adventure in the unknown can be beautiful IF we let it be. Our minds are constantly trying to tell us we need to control things, that we need to KNOW what is next, that we need to PUSH for something. That is clear. What is also clear is that when we LET GO - truly, let go - THAT is where the magic happens. We had a day where we let go yesterday. We lounged in the morning, went on our separate walk/runs, spent time communing with nature in our separate ways. I can only speak of my journey which included sitting on a gnarled tree trunk overlooking the redwood grove behind the library in Mill Valley. This is one of my very favorite places to go, and every time I am here, I walk through it or stop and sit for awhile and marvel at the beauty of the light on the redwoods. I marvel at the beauty of the redwoods standing majestically in circles with the sun shining between the branches and around their solid trunks. This dappling of the mini-forest floor is pure beauty…if you take the time to notice it. There is so much beauty - if we take the time to notice it; so wrapped up in our heads and phones and silly to-do lists. This slowing down opens me up…reminds me what it means to be human living on an incredible planet. As I sat on this gnarled tree trunk - I put a beautiful meditation tune in my ears and let it wash over me. At the same time, I stared at the rushing little stream below me and watched the water run over the rocks. I”m reminded of the Tao de Ching - in chapter 78, there is this:
"Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water.
Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it.
The soft overcomes the hard; the gentle overcomes the rigid.
Everyone knows this is true, but few can put it into practice."
I watched a particular black stone - admiring it’s smooth edges and this passage came to mind. The soft overcomes the hard; the gentle overcomes the rigid. Be gentle. Forcing things NEVER makes me happy and frankly, it never works. The harder I seem to try, the less able I am to move things. Non-doing is doing. Few can put into practice. This is really true. As I heard the meditation mantra in my mind and watched the water gently flow over this rock, I was reminded that everything is just fine. Everything is, in fact, perfect..in this moment. That was the first moment on this trip that I had let go. I continued my run/walk back to our airbnb and got ready to head out for the day. Robb needed to get some eyedrops filled for his allergies so we went to CVS. The line was long and it took over an hour. I found myself feeling a bit frustrated and took a deep breath. We.Are.Wasting.Our.Precious.Time.Here. I think I also texted Robb who was inside waiting in line something like- “Is it even worth the drive to Tomales at this point?”. Thank goodness we agreed that it was because we had an epic adventure. We drove a route we hadn’t driven before - just gorgeous - through Nicasio, around Nicasio reservoir, through some gorgeous rolling hills to Tomales Bay. The light that shines on Tomales is spectacular - any time of day. The sun was glistening on the blue water - not a boat out there which seemed surprising, but I guess it’s January; maybe it’s too cold. It was crisp and sunny. We arrived at the Marshall store, found the last parking spot, and headed to the line which seemed longer than usual. As always, worth the wait. There are so many types of people here. There was a Russian family in front of us, an Asian family behind us, and just a mishmash of humanity which I love - young, old, everyone just there to have some oysters and garlic bread and admire the sights and smells and tastes. We ordered raw and Rockefeller and a bottle of champagne to wash it down. I don’t know why it’s easy to drink a whole bottle of champagne in the middle of the afternoon with a dozen or more oysters… but it sure is. We finished with their salted chocolate chip cookie and felt perfectly satisfied. We had a strange serendipity moment where we saw the young couple we had wine tasted with the day before…. How could it be that they were paired with us at Pride vineyard randomly and then show up two hours away at EXACTLY the same spot at EXACTLY the same time as us for oysters? (Without that CVS wait, we wouldn’t have experienced this moment of serendipity) I don’t know, but the day before when we had met them at the vineyard, I had the distinct feeling that we were meeting them for a reason. They had just returned from 18 months of self-imposed “sabbatical” - as in they had quit their jobs and traveled for 18 months. HMMM. I’m not 30, but there is a part of me that feels like the universe is saying GO - do that. Or something like that. There is a part of me that is hearing the universe saying “let go of your preconceived notions of what should be, and lean INTO what is and what WILL be”. Let go. I did feel a particular kind of release yesterday - I’m so grateful for that. I felt myself open up. I felt myself recognize that I am surrounded by goodness and beauty and that I need to LET GO.
We left Tomales and decided who cares how late it is and drove toward Pt. Reyes. After getting briefly turned around at Pt. Reyes Station we headed down the highway toward the lighthouse. We knew we likely didn’t have enough time to make it there before it closed, but we headed that way. We drove through Inverness, saw an art gallery and whipped a u-turn to go see it. Ah - we loved the art - there’s definitely some I would like to buy, but not on this trip; instead we each got a sweatshirt, had a great convo with the artist, and headed back out. The sun was getting lower - that kind of low that brings on the “golden hour”… this time of year - around 330-4 pm. The water was gorgeous and then we headed down the peninsula that is just miles and miles of rolling hills and cows…and then… the ELK. They stood there majestically in the fields -first to the left and then to the right - and we had to pull our car over to walk up to the barbed wire fence to see and photograph them. I must have taken 20 photos of them! Wow. These animals with their giant rack of antlers… wow. I just had a convo with chat GPT about elk…here’s what I learned.
Antlers are unique to members of the deer family (Cervidae), including elk, and are made of bone. Unlike horns, which are permanent and found in species like sheep or goats, antlers are shed and regrown annually. They are primarily found on males and are used for display during the mating season, as well as for sparring with other males to establish dominance.
It’s hard for me to believe that could shed and regrow these antlers! These incredibly beautiful creatures - with the setting sun literally GLOWING on them were just something out of a novel. People were pulling over cars left and right to see them and photograph them. There was a “herd” of elk - all male (apparently they live as bachelors until the mating season…thanks again, Chat GPT) just contentedly grazing and enjoying the sun on their backs. I can’t help but wonder what they think of the people crowding around oohing and ahhhing and taking photos of them just living their lives. Just living. I wonder if elk worry or think about the future, or if they just think about right here right now and that blade of grass they are nibbling on. This life is a practice in moving toward that. Moving toward a focus on just that blade of grass right in front of us. While we were on this drive - it’s hard to even describe the beauty - we were also listening to a Spotify playlist of classical (mostly piano and violin - something Spotify had curated for me) tunes that just, I don’t know, BLENDED with the scenery; it was PART of the scenery. We ventured a bit further until we saw a sign for “south beach” and turned down the road. Beautiful parking lot and area leading up to it - California does an incredible job of creating and maintaining beautiful natural places as state and national parks. The Pt. Reyes National Seashore….everyone should go. I noticed several families unloading their cars, laughing and juggling their gear to head down to the thick, cold, sandy beach to watch the sunset. Ahhhh. The sun setting into the Pacific Ocean - is there anything quite so lovely? The air is so crisp, but in a coat and warm clothes, it’s perfection. This place feels untouched, and it’s hard to believe there are so few people around. I wish for everyone to spend some time in this eerily lonely and wonderful spot. It is only in these spaces that you are reminded what really matters. It is in these spaces that you connect with what is real and tangible. The senses are on high alert - the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and touches are all functioning at their best, and in symphony with one another. The birds soaring, dipping, playing…. the ice plants green and red and glowing in the light… the sand - heavy grains laced with shells - the sea - giant waves collapsing over and over and over again onto themselves and toward your toes…..the miracle of the sun setting - bringing an end to another day.
We knew we had a long drive back, so we set out before it had fully dipped to the water. What we got in our rear view mirror was a true miracle - just light. Glorious light. Filling the sky and covering the land and turning everything red and gold. The rows of cypress - glowing reddish in the distance. Tomales Bay - pink and gray and blue and shining. The mountains in the background with a pink haze covering them.
Photos don’t even do it justice - although this one does a pretty good job. I pulled the car over so many times. I just couldn’t help myself. I needed to soak it in, capture it, bring it home as a reminder of what is real and true and good when things seem bad. Seem the perfect choice of words.. because I know it to be true that in this moment, all is well. In those glorious moments in nature - if we pay attention - there is NOTHING but beauty.
We traversed the familiar winding roads back through Olema, Bolinas, Stinson, and watched the colors shimmer on the Bolinas lagoon and then from the top of the hill overlooking Stinson as the day truly turned into night - just a line of red-orange sinking into the navy sea. Those winding roads feel like a video game as you turn and wind and turn and wind up and down to Mill Valley on the other side. We debated going into town - another glass of wine? Nah - we are experiencing less is more when it comes to that these days, and it felt forced. So, instead, at 7 pm (like every day since we’ve been here… the time change never quite catching up to us) we got into our pajamas, snuggled on the couch with our respective reading materials, and I, of course, promptly fell into a dead sleep. I moved to the bed around an hour later, shivering in our chilly (non-heated except for a small portable heater) airbnb. I slept well in the wake of a wonderful day, dreaming, but not remembering the dreams. Waking, feeling so rested and content. One last day in paradise - how shall we spend it?
