After leaving the redwoods and heading south east to Berkeley, we drove past the Real Goods Solar Living Center. I can't believe we didn't take more photos. It was beautiful and interesting. To learn more about it click http://www.solarliving.org/
We got to Berkeley with about 45 minutes to get settled and head off to the conference. Sara had not registered for the conference and asked to volunteer to be able to participate. She got a great deal!
There were some amazing, confident folks at this event. The keynote speakers were dynamic and inspirational to say the least. Anne and I want to get the DVD to share some of this with others.
It was great to connect with the other BALLE On! riders finally. They deserve some REAL credit for taking on such a long trip!
It seems that Bryan had the future in mind when singing up for the conference...note the name tag (hee hee!)
We were served 7 fresh, local & mostly vegetarian meals during the conference. They were delicious! Really beautiful settings on the buffet tables (again didn't take photos).
We learned a lot about what others were doing and real life ideas of how to make a difference ourselves.
Saturday night after dinner and the evening keynote speaker, Paul Hawkin, (my favorite & an amazing guy, check out his website: http://www.paulhawken.com/paulhawken_frameset.html) we had a dance party with a local Afro Funk band. Too much fun!
Look at that talent!!
In one of Anne's breakout sections on Saturday, she met a man, Hank, who was working to help bring Californian families to farming, land-use issues/solutions etc. she can tell you more...
We all enjoyed our time at the conference and in Berkeley. Sara and I, skipped out on the last session and walked around Telegraph ave. Window shopped, watched a belly dancer and her musicians on the street and listened to two very talented women playing Middle Easter style music.
We woke up on Sunday morning and did a bit more looking around in Berkekey by the university. After packing up and saying goodbye to Rosco, our warm host at Piedmont House Youth Hostel, we headed to get some interesting food in the city before heading out. We got a bit of Sushi (yum) and walked down memory lane with Anne. You see, she and Lars spent an early part of their lives here. This is where they fell in love, got engaged, and it was an important part of their lives and growth together. (thanks for sharing Anne!)
We headed in the direction of home in the early afternoon, getting to a truck stop around midnight to get dinner. Not bad actually. We drove a bit further to a small campground near Crater Lake. MOSQUITOES is all I can say about that! I think we set a record for packing up and outrunning them in the morning.
It is such a beautiful place!
We headed north again to Bend to stay with Bomber, Greg and Anna. This is Sara's aunt, uncle and niece. What fun! We enjoyed a good meal, great coffee, played some cards, talked about adoption and generally enjoyed hanging out.
Thanks so much Bomber, we all felt so welcome. Hope to see you in Chelan this summer!
Tuesday morning Sara was able to visit Anna's school and see her end of the year performance before we headed north again towards home. The drive went amazingly fast and we laughed, sang and I feel, enjoyed being together for our last day of the trip, heading for home. We got to Chelan in time to drop Anne off to see Kai in his end of the year performance and graduation.
Thanks for sharing this experience with us everyone!
An ladies... thanks for the silly, challenging, inspiring, beautiful, wacky, entertaining, achy, cooperative, fun, creative, humbling, and memorable trip! I LOVE YOU BOTH!
~Sherry~
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