Recharging

Wow! It is hard to believe that I haven't posted on this site for over a year. So much has happened since our  first Gathering of Healers in August of 2017. We were blown away and couldn't wait to get back there this year. We met new friends and reestablished connections with old friends. It was amazing, as always. We felt that we needed to recharge after being there and headed for Page, Arizona. In Page, I fulfilled a "bucket list" item and did the short hike to Horseshoe Bend. I wanted to catch the early morning light which meant I had to get out of bed at 4:30 in the morning! Now, those of you who know me are aware that I am not a morning person and have never claimed to be one of those bright eyed and bushy tailed people. Thom, on the other hand, is already up and jumping around pretty early, so getting up that early was no big deal to him. As long as he had coffee, he was good to go. We motored to the small parking lot and joined the handful of people who were also there for those early morning shots.  We were greeted by Brother Raven as we left the car and as we started down the trail we heard coyotes howling way off in the distance. I knew that this would be a good day after hearing that. It was truly amazing.

After leaving Page, we headed to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Neither one of us had ever been to this section of the Canyon, so we were understandably excited about being there for a couple of days. As a young child I had visited the South Rim and used to look at maps and dream about going to the "other side" to see the differences in the way the Canyon looked. So, 55 years later, there I was; standing on the rim of a place that had three lightning struck forest fires raging and seeing the awesomeness of Mother Nature protecting herself from harm. I guess it really is best to see the view from the South Rim first because then you can appreciate the splendor of less crowds and a more relaxed atmosphere as you gaze in delight and wonder at the beautiful formation of a canyon that is so ancient. Needless to say, I was ready to go back even before we headed south for the rest of our journey.

Leaving the Grand Canyon, we saw many places that we had never been or wanted to re-visit; Vermilion Cliffs, Pipe Springs, Marble Canyon and Navajo Bridge, Wupatki, Sunset Crater, the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest, the VLA (Very Large Array), and Three Rivers Petroglyph Site.

We arrived in Alamagordo, NM to visit White Sands and the Space Museum. As a child, I stood out in our yard in Central Florida and watched John Glenn circle the earth on his history making flight to be the first American to orbit the Earth. I was obsessed with space, as I guess we all were in Florida in the '60's. At any rate, I wanted to go to this museum, so we planned an entire day there. It was very informative and to top it off, if you are a Star Trek fan, there was a whole section dedicated just to Star Trek. It was awesome!

The next day, we got up early (again) so that we could be at White Sands National Monument when they opened. This was the best day ever! It had rained the night before so the dunes were hard packed and very cool when you stood on them. It certainly made it much easier to climb them! We all know Thom and the first thing he wanted to do was jump off the dunes, so off he went. He jumped until he couldn't jump any longer and then we found a sled. I was unaware of this, but apparently sledding is THE thing to do at White Sands. Of course, Thom ran off to sled down the dunes a couple of times. If you want a great chuckle, check out that video below. (we returned the sled to its hiding place after we were done with it)

In the afternoon, the sun had dried out the dunes and they were silky and cool. If you weren't aware, the dunes are made up of rare gypsum sand and beautiful selenite crystals. Imagine the energy and power that you feel here as you dig your bare toes into the sand or lie out in the dunes. It is magical.

That evening we were fortunate to be able to lie out among the dunes and watch the Perseid Meteor showers on their peak night. Watching those streaks of light flash across the sky with occasional fireballs wending their way all the way across the sky was amazing. The one thing that I noticed about White Sands was the amount of laughter that I heard all day long. It was the first time that we had been somewhere recently that there was only happy sounds. It was wonderful to hear families enjoying life together.

Leaving Alamagordo, we headed for Carlsbad Caverns to experience the sight of thousands of bats leaving the mouth of the cavern in a vortex to feed for the night. We had been there a couple of years ago and were looking forward to this event. Sadly, only about 20 bats came out that night and we vowed to come back and try again. Near sunset, we took our seat in the amphitheater and watched a fox up on the rim of the cavern play around as we waited for the ranger to begin his talk. Every ranger has their own special way of teaching/talking about the bats and when the first bat comes out of the cave entrance, they immediately stop talking and their spiel is done, no matter what they are saying. They don't even finish their sentence. It is quiet right then! No cell phones. No cameras. No loud talking. We hit the jackpot with our ranger. He was apparently a comic book and superhero aficionado because he used stories about Batman and other superheroes for his talk. He was so quiet and unassuming when he began his talk, and then BAM! he was an actor with different voices and stories that made all the people pay real attention. And, I guess the bats wanted everyone to hear everything he had to say because they waited until he was completely finished before they appeared. It was astonishing! We saw and heard a spiral of thousands of bats that came out of that entrance and flew away to feed for the evening. After the bats begin to fly, you can leave at any time because it begins to get dark and you can't really see them anymore. It is also hard to keep little ones quiet after a while, so you can leave when you want. After it got so dark that you couldn't see the bats but could still hear them, I kept my eyes on the sky because there were still meteor showers and I was hoping to be able to see a few more before were asked to leave. At one point there was only Thom, myself, and one other person left in the amphitheater. That's when I heard the ranger approaching. Getting ready to be told we had to leave, he informed us that we could stay as long as we wanted, just not to go to sleep because then we would be "camping" and that wasn't allowed. Then he left us there. All alone. In the dark. I stretched out and watched the sky. The fireballs were tremendous and many more of them than the night before at White Sands. The other person that was left was a young man on a road trip as he began his new spiritual journey. We talked and shared and then found out he had a didgeridoo in his car. Of course, we had a drum. So there we were, hanging out in the amphitheater of Carlsbad Caverns with meteors streaking across the sky over our heads, playing wonderful music, surrounded by intense darkness. It was astonishing.

The day after Carlsbad, we decided to go to Sitting Bull Falls. We had never heard it before and I stumbled across it when I was looking for things to do in the Carlsbad area. You drive out through some pretty uninteresting country and you think to yourself that there was no way for there to be a waterfall anywhere around. But, sure enough, we found it and it was beautiful. There were very few people there and the ranger was pretty nice about letting us stay past the closing time. The water is refreshingly cool, the path to the falls is easy, the restrooms are clean, and the picnic pavilions are very nice. If you ever get to that area of the country, I highly recommend spending the day there.

All in all, we had a great recharge trip. Remember that self-care is very important. If you don't take care of yourself, both in body and spirit, then you can not effectively help others.