The California Trip

It was my wife's birthday this week so we took a trip south to Big Sur. We ate at the River Inn there and walked down to the river where there were wooden chairs to sit in the river without getting wet while dangling one's feet in the river there this time of year. Then we drove a little south of there where the Nepenthe is. I remember about 1966 I was 18 and driving myself home  to Glendale in the Los Angeles area from a church camp in Mt. Shasta, California. I had heard about Big Sur as it was becoming all the rage for my generation about then so I stopped at Nepenthe and went up to the roof deck overlooking the ocean form a cliff like place and watched a beautiful woman dance bellydance style with scarves. Up until that time it likely was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen, both where I was overlooking the ocean and the beauty and moves of the young woman bellydancing there. I felt a change in the world then, I felt Flower power and a new generation that I was a part of beginning to change both the world and ourselves worldwide. Some now might call it "The California Trip".

This time yesterday however, it was a trip of nostalgia and beauty. I'm 65 now and my wife is in her late 50s. She was shopping for jewelry there at Nepenthe and I found a coffee table pictorial called "The California Trip" that I had to buy. On the cover flap it says, "California Trip" by Richard Blair and Kathleen Goodwin with a picture of the back of what likely was once a school bus painted white with peace symbols and a Live sign from Egypt, the Ankh. The bus appears to be called, "Our Thing" with a surfboard, (a long board) that looks just like one of ones I used to own in the late 1960s tied onto the back of the bus. So, I had to get this pictorial because of all the beautiful pictures of not only Big Sur but all of the other amazing beautiful places to visit in California most of which I have been to since I moved here in 1952 when I was 4 from Seattle with my parents to San Diego.

I would like to quote the Preface:

"Thoughout the world, California is the ultimate address. It has come to represent a blend of fantasy and reality. With its stunning natural beauty, cities, diverse population, and powerhouse economy, the Golden State does indeed offer the promise of a better life, of dreams fulfilled.

Millions of people have flocked here over the past 150 years, chasing their dreams in migration that continues to this day. The constant influx of new ideas and energy, combined with California's natural resources, provides the fuel that keeps the state humming." end quote from vii from the preface of "The California Trip" printed in 2008 by Color and Light Editions, Inverness, California.

There was another book that they had that wasn't for sale because it was out of stock there was "Handmade Houses" isbn978-0-8478-3845-5     We likely will order a copy of this one from amazon.com or something in the near future.

In my 20s I often was involved in building interesting houses with my friends in Mt. Shasta. One of my friends built a house where he carved in Sanskrit the "entrance into the void"on the wooden bathroom door going into the bathroom and "the exit from the void" going out from the bathroom because he was a Sanskrit Scholar from UCLA then with a Master's Degree in History of Religion specializing in Buddhism and Sanskrit the 1970s. He flew over from Switzerland where he was playing music in 1985 to meet me and my family in Kathmandu, Nepal in February 1986. We visited (both of us for the first time) Chitwan National Park there on the Terai and saw White Rhinos and Tigers up close. My family and I were in India and Nepal and Thailand from December 1985 until April 1986.

But, in some ways even going to India, Nepal and Thailand and through japan was a part of the "California Trip". Surfers first led the way across the ocean from California to Hawaii, Bali, Indonesia, and then to the Asian Continent for our generation. Then they chronicled their journeys in surf movies and travel movies which made the rest of us want to go and experience something really exotic too. And we did.

Note: A trick I use all the time now when I find something at someone's house new that I want to eventually buy or something that is out of stock in a store that I want is to take a picture of it with my smartphone. This way it is like making a copy of whatever you want for future reference so you don't forget what it is, who makes it and where to get it. So, I took a picture yesterday of the cover of:
"Handmade Houses" and then took a photo with my phone of the ISBN number so I would have it for future reference. This way I have it without having to hand write anything.