A Breathtaking Sunset in Breckenridge, Colorado + Travel Updates!

After two long days of driving through Nevada and Utah, I made it to Colorado on Sunday!

I’m in Breckenridge right now, staying at my friend Viki’s condo. At 9600 elevation, it gets to be in the low 30’s, which is very exciting to this California girl. I love the vitality and wildness of the mountain states. It feels so much more alive out here. And it’s been a joy to see sprinkles of yellow and red emerge among the epic green landscapes as the Fall season manifests!

Today, we took a stroll around Sawmill Reservoir.

The symmetry was breathtaking.

What a gift to be alive.

A picture of a happy bean out in nature :')

And of course I had to whip out a yoga pose.

My favorite tree is the Blue Spruce. It's so abundant here!

Can you believe that all these pictures were taken with my iPhone? Wild. I forgot my Nikon D3500, but damn... guess I didn't need it!!

Now, a few updates on what I've been up to the past few days…

I arrived at my sister’s apartment building in Aurora, CO around 2 am on Sunday, then had to get up a few hours later to facilitate an open space dialogue with people from all over the world on Zoom. Needless to say, it was exhausting especially after a 13 hour drive. The cool thing was that I got to network with and facilitate conversations between interesting people like Helena Norberg-Hodge and Zen Honeycutt. What a privilege!!

Instead of going back to sleep after the webinar, I decided to walk through the streets of Aurora and Denver for the rest of the day. Stark socio-economic disparities were visible all throughout these areas, reminding me of the areas near where I lived growing up in the East Bay, CA. Nearly every other person who passed me on the streets were begging for money or slumped over on drugs. Boarded up businesses, trash all over the street, tents and encampments were a common sighting. I have no doubt that lockdown policies unnecessarily exacerbated these unfortunate living conditions.

I had a few conversations with some of the people on the streets. The conversations were rich with mutual respect and deep listening. One of the men I talked to told me that I was the first person that ever treated him like a real human being. I felt heartbroken hearing this. Yet given the state of the world, division and fear is more common than the openness to recognize our shared humanity. And of course there are times where opening up to others may not be appropriate, given deep traumas and violent behavior that might arise when basic needs aren't met. Practicing discernment is important. Yet we're such energetic beings. If you offer sincere and grounded energy and make it clear that you're not afraid and don't see them as the enemy, that often changes the game. Most people can sense realness and authenticity when they experience it.

Anyways, I plan on writing a blog about my thoughts on the increasing inequity and social crises we’re facing, based on the groundbreaking new investigative series by Whitney Webb and Iain Davis on sustainable debt slavery. If you feel up to exploring a challenging and complex topic about current global control strategies of the financial elite, check it out. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Writing a blog about it will help me understand it more.

I also drove up to Boulder, where I visited my friends Marisa and Anderson who’ve started a naturopathic and alternative health care community clinic downtown. It felt like a full circle moment to see all they’ve accomplished, since the last time I saw them was the day they got the keys to the office building. Afterwards, I connected with my friend Ben at his beautiful home on the mountainous outskirts of Boulder. At his home, he runs Wildcat Gardens, a local provider of wildcrafted organic medicinal herbs and products. Last time I was here, I helped him with his lavender fields in exchange for staying at his home for a few days. After hours of baking in the sun harvesting 30 pounds (about 50 bushes) of lavender, the steam distillation process produced about 20 mL of pure lavender oil. What a humbling process…

In a few days, I will be heading down to Southern Colorado, where I’ll be exploring the San Juan Mountains for a week. This part of Colorado is magical, and I am considering it as a future home area. Stay tuned :)