Soul Continuum
Ogden, UT

We recently returned from our first expedition to Alaska and wanted to share our experience as well as thank everyone for their encouragement, support, enthusiasm, and trust. We had a wonderful group of girls, great weather, amazing teachers, lots of wildlife, and the adventure of a lifetime.

We volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in Mt. Vernon for the first week. Working with the Women Build group we learned how to use everything from a hammer to power tools! During the evenings we did yoga, attended the country "grange" dance lessons,
went to the theater, and performed at a local coffee shop's open mic night. In addition, we chartered a whale watching excursion in the San Juan Islands and followed 3 Orca
pods; watching them breach and swim beside the boat. The week was balanced with hard work, skill development and team building.

Our adventures included backpacking in Denali State Park and glacier sea kayaking. The trekking was beautiful, and provided a very remote and pristine environment for personal reflection and group processing. We kayaked in Ailak Bay which means "scary place" while we also metaphorically entered personal scary places and fears. The calving glaciers sounded like rumbling thunderstorms throughout the day and night. Seals, bald eagles, puffins, and sea otters kept us company during the three days we spent paddling.

We participated in environmental work at the Alaskan Coastal Studies Island outside of Homer. We slept in a yurt and had 2 outstanding field guides teaching us about the marine life in the sea and tide pools along with all the plant and forest animals during hikes around the island. We picked wild blueberries, held sea stars, and watched the seals poke their heads up and look back at us. The yurt was very peaceful, educational, and was an excellent place to quiet the mind, practice meditating, and living simply.