Did this about 85 days ago just before flying back to Seattle and into Covid-19. Fell once during that run, partly crushing my aluminum water bottle but no scrapes n me. This time, I took another tumble and simply rolled then continued on (with a few expletives), but my iPhone took the brunt of the roll. [Gallery]

Taking down the Yurt started as a case of many Chiefs, each with their own very clear but different ideas for how to take down the yurt - not enough Indians. [Gallery]

Of course, we think we take dogs for walks but they know better. Jackson led us to the circular trail around the twin mesas of Chapel Spire Rock and Chicken Point, an early morning 4-mile jaunt. [Gallery]

We took a break from dismantling the Center, to walk up along Sunset Trail in Posse Grounds Park just above Ruth’s house, to catch a view of the low sun hitting Brins Mesa. I love the desert. It’s stark and hard and strong and quiet.

Today was the official closing “ceremony” of the Center, which consisted of a Puja or Hindhu/Buddhist offering to the deities associated with the key offerings of the 7Centers experience. [Gallery]

I decided to go for an early morning 8-mile trail run amongst the red rocks and cacti. Here in Sedona, it’s often more of a scramble than a run but I did see mountain bike marks along the route so I figured what the heck, if a bike can cover it, I can run it. Right? When I started, it was 74 degrees. When I finished, it was 92.

A Memorial Day garage sale, and a day on ladders taking down signs and lights and chords, and projectors.

It seems like all of Phoenix has come up here to the high desert for the weekend to escape the heat and find water to sit in. At noon it took almost 15 minutes to travel three blocks. With the sun, heat, and dry air, COVID-19 is just not an issue. Or so it seems.

It was nearly four hours from Santa Barbara straight East across greater LA and the Inland Empire before we left sea level and climbed through the high desert across Prescott, Jerome, and the Verde Valley to Sedona.[Read More, More Photos]

[View Gallery] Today in Santa Barbara, restaurants opened to people dining - outside. It was wonderful to see. We too dined al fresco, and my sister’s outdoor ‘dining room.’

We visited Eleanor & Matt in the middle of San Francisco. It was nice to see that most people were wearing masks, even outside. But it was also just a wee bit scary. We did not see people being carted off. We did not hear coughing. What we saw was a city try to ease, ever so gingerly, out of lockdown before its citizens go crazy from the pressure. We’re not all meant to be astronauts, hanging out in a tin can 100 miles above Earth for a year.

The drive down 199 to the coast is one of my favorites. Right where the highway meets the ocean is a stand of Redwoods that I like to visit each time I do this drive. This time, the stand was closed but we were able to park our car and just walk in - the only humans around. It was beautiful. Without humans, the undergrowth was in lush bloom; nobody spreading dust from SUV’s and nobody picking the flowers. I felt like a trespasser. [More Photos…]

Start of a road trip, we had a porch hang-out in Portland with Josephine before heading on down to Grants Pass.

Gallery: When I was downtown the other day, there was a really strange contrast between the busy, lively tent cities around Pioneer Square, and the almost eerie emptiness of the New Amazonia (as I call it), just a few blocks away.

This one, just parked, waiting. I wonder if they are working for Uber?

Gallery: Seattle, downtown, Saturday. It’s always sad to see the homeless people down there but somehow seems more poignant during the pandemic. On the other hand, I’m guessing some of these folks aren’t doing too bad with their stimulus checks?