What did the hippie say when he was asked to leave.....Namaste.

I've been in Washington for three weeks now and I love it here! When I got into Portland it was almost midnight. I met up with my friends and was picked up by another friend from New Orleans. We ended up crashing a wedding reception of  someone that my friends knew. Then got up early the next day stopped for provisions and made our way to Rainbow.

The site for the gathering was located in a beautiful spot in the foothills of Mt. St. Helens. It was so amazing. It was kind of bazaar there was still snow on the ground and pretty chilly. I was a little concerned about the sudden change in climate and how I was going to handle it. I did end up getting sick a few times while I was there.

We camped at Green Path which was a camp based on primitive skills learning. It turned out that I already was acquainted with some of the people who where there from the primitive skills gathering I went to last year called Firefly. It a was really amazing place to be camped by. There were plant walks every morning and after lunch. We had community meals, did wild foraging, drank ganoderma mushroom tea. I took Chi Gong and Acro Yoga classes. I even taught a class on how to make dream catchers. The Green Path community was amazing.

On the morning of the 4th I woke up to still silent woods, everyone was honoring the sacred space we had created and was preparing for the peace prayer and celebration at noon. We walked out to main meadow sat in a giant circle around the peace pole, a had carved totem pole, and prayed waiting for the noon silence to be broken by the parade of children marching down in celebration from Kid Village. It was such a beautifully amazing experience despite the nausea and stomach ache I had from my body acclimating to my new environment. Right before noon we all stood up, joined hands, and gathered in a tight embrace to "Om", then at noon we all screamed and cheered in celebration. Music and drumming broke the silence of the morning and we all sang, hugged, and started dancing. Everyone was so happy and there was so much love. I found myself hugging random strangers that were now part of my new family telling them I loved them, laughing at their embrace totally bliss-ed out by this new amazing experience. I spent most of my day just hanging out in main meadow until the nausea and stomach pains made me go back to camp to rest. Even though I felt gross it was such a memorable day!

After the fourth people started to trickle away and the crowds got smaller. We stayed a few more day then, a friends from New Orleans and two new friends from Washington and I decided to hitch hike back to their house, grab the car and make the loop on the Olympic Peninsula camping along the way. I'll have to save that for another entry and my not so computer savvy self will have to figure out how to put the pictures I took on there too. Until next time, lovin ya'll. xoxo