Welcome to Storyteller’s Connection. Bright Hawk answers the call to storytelling! She tells the story of her journey with storytelling and offers a tip for forming your story. Enjoy this episode and many more to come!
Thank you for sharing this podcast with others, commenting and offering feedback as well as offering reviews! Thank you for being part of Storyteller’s Connection!
You can register for the live event or order Bright Hawk’s book at
This is the introduction of what we intend for Storyteller’s Connection. We hope you resonate with this message and if you do we encourage you to also join us for the LIVE Storyteller’s Connection where we can hear your story, too!
www.BrightHawkProductions.com
Thank you for listening to Storyteller’s Connection – Together We make Better Stories!
DID you reserve YOUR book? If you have reserved it yet we recommend getting yours reserved and cash in on the free standard Ebook with your Signed Hardback book!
YOU ALREADY reserved your book! Good Job! Did you know the enhanced Ebook has Bright Hawk reading the story to the listener with her handpan music and sound effects! Don’t miss this $14.99 value! Simply attend the Book Release Party, celebrate, enjoy the interviews and previews AND see the special guest! AND you get a free Enhanced Ebook on top of your Hardback signed copy and your standard Ebook.
The long-awaited Dancing Hippo Book is on sale NOW for presales! There are several ways to pre-order your book.
-Attend the Book release party and Reserve your Signed Hardback Copy to get the newly developed Enhanced Ebook FREE (audio/visual experience – Bright Hawk’s music, storytelling & videos) as well as a FREE standard Ebook. (mailed on 11/27/20)
–Reserve your book on Amazon but give up the freebies and signed book. (paperback available) (mailed on 11/27/20)
We are so excited to release this beautifully illustrated book just in time for the next generation! Help kids learn how to manage hard emotions, overcome naysayers, and be their most authentic selves. This book has even folded in gender inclusivity so ALL children can see themselves in this story. GLBTQIA+ friendly.
Leading mythology expert, Joseph Campbell, defined for us the hero’s journey. It is the story of all of us, each of us on our own journey, capable of so much, what will we do when we follow our bliss. Today there are so many of us that have walked the hero’s journey, you will know this story because suddenly something changed, then a sequence of events eventually led to your transformation.
This is the story we call the Hero’s Journey. It always begins with Act 1, Bright Hawk helps us understand this step in the video below. Act 1 is the HOOK, the beginning of the story that brings us in closer so we don’t miss what happened. Its the start of the story that pulls you in, the part that makes you feel like you want to hear what happened. Act 1, begins when normalcy is interrupted, what was supposed to happen is no longer, plans have changed, now the adventure begins!
Watch this sneak peek from a prior Storyteller’s Connection where Bright Hawk helps us define and shape our Act 1 so that we can get our listener’s attention.
We hope you will bring your Hero’s Journey to Storyteller’s Connection where the storyteller’s come to share, practice and try on their stories with active listeners.
The world has greatly intensified for humans in the past few weeks. The virus has pushed us all to truly sit with ourselves in this time. Many of us are struggling with uncertainty, grief and loss. Even if no one directly related to you is struggling with this virus, everyone is very aware, every day of isolation of the potential hazards and those that are actually very sick. We grieve the loss of humans, we grieve what we had before this all happened and many of us can feel even other people’s grief. So one way or another most of us are in a place of grief. We can feel the global impact on humans, this virus has created, most of us are locked in our homes to wait it out. Yet somehow, all of us, seem to sense that BIG changes are happening because of this pandemic. Somehow in our hearts and our souls we see the impact humans have on earth, animals and nature in general. We are awakening to our full connection to all things alive on planet earth, including the virus itself.
The waves still come and the sun still rises
We were very fortunate to spend an entire week in early March on the Pacific Coast Highway where we met the elephant seals. We set up our van each day on the beach and listened to their calls to each other, watched babies suckle their mammas and watched them live as a community. Each day it seemed we would learn more about them and we found out what they had been through. Elephant Seals were heavily hunted in the 18th, 19th century and into the early 20th century by humans. They are REALLY easy to hunt, they mostly lay around on the beach. The hunter didn’t have to work hard except maybe to harvest their 4000-5000lbs of blubber, though humans at that time likely saw them as fuel. Humans hunted this very easy prey until they almost became extinct! The number actually got down to just 50 seals!
Finally, humans found another source of fuel and Mexico began to protect them. Now miraculously they have grown to over 225,000 seals with numbers increasing all the time. We were inspired by the diligent volunteers that are part of the “Friends of the Elephant Seal” as they came out and counted the entire population! They were happy to answer questions and share their joy in their volunteer work. Each time the sun came up or down the seals would ‘bark’ and the babies would ‘cry’ as if they had a ritual to celebrate these great transitionary times we see every day. They honored their transition from an almost extinct population to a growing population of these amazing animals.
Amazing resilient Animals
As the world began to become infected with this virus, we became aware that these seals had overcome their almost extinct past, they very nearly disappeared because of human hunting. We couldn’t help but contemplate our own future, we have spent the last five years visiting nursing homes — that reality washing away with the waves and seeing change was on its way. Uncertainty is there, yet these seals give us hope that the changes, the EARTH so desperately needed, are happening! That hope is bigger than anyone’s life because it includes all of our lives, including the seals! As the changes unfold before us and we choose to be part of that, we harvest the resilience of survival. Let these amazing seals inspire you, too!
Let these Elephant Seals Inspire YOU!
Now as we sit in our safe home on top the mountain and await what might happen next we invite YOU! We invite YOU to this Virtual Fire Circle. We are calling it UNITE! Uniting the diversity of Fire Circles all over the world and inviting all organizers to take part. We invite YOU to be part of this fire, Sing a song together, get dressed in your magickal attire, play the drums with Bright Hawk, and UNITE with folks that all need this connection RIGHT NOW! We need volunteers to hold a fire and keep your camera mostly on it for the duration of the 3 hour block of time, or part of the time. We need people to step up and offer energetic clearing to folks joining us, like a smudge gate, but virtually. We need people to offers songs, poems, and wisdom. We want to create a virtual fire circle, just like we have all experienced in all our diverse ways. There is room for everyone, although we will need to keep this appropriate for all ages. We welcome children and youth, including families. We hope in order to include as many people as possible in our 100 people limit that families/couples can just log in with one camera. Decorate your space that you choose to share on camera! Wear your magical attire, burn your incense, dance in your living room, and sing with the group! We will UNITE and love you through the fear and uncertainty. UNITE with us!
Please understand that you must JOIN THE FAMILY OF FIRE GROUP on Facebook or email me directly to get the information regarding how to join us in this inspiring event, UNITE. We are keeping it privately in the group in order to hold a safe container, but if your on my mailing list we are happy to send you the information if you don’t use or prefer Facebook. The event will be held on ZOOM and you can even simply call in from your phone, no video required. If you want to share the event on Facebook, you will notice that the group event is not shareable but you can find an event page on my BRIGHT HAWK PRODUCTIONS page that directs folks to join the group, to get the details. So please share THIS event Page.
BIG! 2020 is a BIG year, so much anticipation for this manifesting time. So many BIG things are happening for Bright Hawk Productions and our non-profit Let’s Dance Activities! First, a BIG EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT…. Bright Hawk is offering a Fire Circle that she is facilitating, organizing and visualizing along with other people including Hollis Taylor, Crystal J. Love, and Jason Bliss. This Fire Circle is completely different in the timing of the ceremonies and the intentional inclusion of children. We have worked hard this winter to manifest an event intended to include EVERYONE! Even to include families with children, Elders that want to share wisdom, and people with challenges that keep them from all night fire circles. The event space offers support for all levels of attendance from tenting to indoor space. Our event space even has handicap accessible indoor facilities! We are officially taking registrations at www.HeartlandFireCircle.com
HeartlandFireCircle.com – Dance In the Light with Us!
There is MORE and MORE, but here’s a little story! Then look for more exciting announcements below!
Van Life at Big Sur
Van life has its ups and downs just like living in a house. Although, unexpected mishaps can quickly become a disaster that eats your day. We had left Eugene, Oregon and had enjoyed sometime on the Pacific Coast.
We are both interested in healthy options and became intrigued with brewing Kombucha in our van. We brew two gallons, and that makes just about enough for the two of us. We are still working on our system and during our break in Eugene we worked to master the process. The scobies, the bacteria that makes the fermentation happen, are very active and the process is working.
All of us we have days that are more difficult than other days. Life is not about avoiding difficult days it’s about how you handle them. We were grateful to have enjoyed some days doing office work along the Pacific coast. We carried on into Santa Clara for a Let’s Dance program before we headed south to BigSur for a well deserved break.
Spring is blooming
BIG Ocean Views
Big Smiles from the Coast
Brilliant Blue Waters with BIG Spectacular Views
Loving #Vanlife on the Pacific Coast Hwy
As we drove out of the busy city, Hollis went to the center of the van only to realize the an entire gallon container of kombucha had spilled, the carpet was saturated and we both realized the entire van smelled like fermented vinegar! We really could not continue in this condition, so many levels of intolerable! As we inspected the damage we realized that this was going to be a project. We had to replace the carpet, clean things, relay carpet, and make more kombucha. We both sat in silence as we realized our plans to Big Sur were not happening tonight. We begrudgingly began to make plans to spend the afternoon with this overwhelming project.
We were relieved to find inexpensive carpet remnants and then drove into the city to find a DIY carwash tall enough for the van. We struggle through getting it all done with tired hungry bodies, carpet out and new carpet in. Hollis remastered the arrangement of things to assure this didn’t happen again. By the time we were finished we were both exhausted and frustrated with things and needing downtime. We sat in silence at dinner as Hollis reviewed the schedule and map,” Well I am grateful for this mess today because if we had gone to Big Sur for two days we would have to double back for our Let’s Dance program in Salinas, CA tomorrow!” Silver lining. We both stare at each other with raised eyebrows in surprise, realizing plans change, we both begin to relax and smile at each other, the stress of the day begins melting away. Bright Hawk says, “Well I guess it was meant to work out this way! We needed to slow down, study our schedule better, figure out a better system for the kombucha and finally get around to replacing the carpet, and now we have. ” Hollis agrees.
We both smiled and Bright Hawk asks, “Then do we have any time to spend in Big Sur?” Hollis reviews the schedule again and happily answers, “Actually we have several days to shoot video, get pictures and get a little rest.” We both look at each other as the stress fades, we have had easier days and will again. We know that everyone has moments like this, well, the details vary for sure! Often though as we sit and reflect we can find the silver lining in any hard situation. We took several quiet breathes together finishing our dinner and knowing that all moments pass–good, bad or otherwise.
We spent several days slowly meandering down the part of the Pacific Coast called “Big Sur” – savoring each beautiful moment because we are so aware of what we just went through. The beauty of the cliffs, the wisdom of the redwood trees and soothing nature of the waves washed away our rough start to the trip. We even spent time dancing in the sun with our shadows!
We slowly worked our way down the coastline on Highway 1 towards Morro Bay. We had pieced together that by the end of March we will have done the entire Pacific Coast Highway from Washington to Oregon and California! We were profoundly grateful for this life we have manifested. Even though it’s hard sometimes, we love our lives in the van! We worked hard to get to this point, we both have invested so much time and energy and every bit of it is worth it! For this we are grateful!
Redwoods at the Coast
Turkey *Gobble Gobble
Spring Flowers!
BIG Beach View
Waterfall Into the Ocean
Big Cliffs at the Coast
Sunset on the Cliffs of BIG Sur!
BIG Views, BIG SMILES, and BIG Fun at BIG Sur!
ANOTHER BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
Bright Hawk and Hollis have been Featured in this Summit!
We want to THANK YOU for reading Bright Hawk’s Blog! AND we want to share another BIG important announcement with you! Bright Hawk and Hollis have been featured in a special Brain Degeneration Summit that is packed solid with resources for people living with brain degenerative diseases. We want to invite you to look deeper into this or share it with someone that might find it helpful. This is a big step for Let’s Dance Activities, our non-profit serving nursing care and memory care communities Nationwide. Its part of the reason we get around! We are so honored to be part of this event. Here is a link to the Let’s Dance Activities Blog and we hope that you take a moment to read some of the stories or spread the word.
Professionals Come Together with Resources for this Community
Winter weather in most of the United States is fairly uncomfortable for vanlife unless you want to stay deep in the south or the desert and then still, at night it can be a bit much. We heard a recommendation from other vanlife folks that it’s ideal to take a little break each year, you won’t burn out this way. So last year when we were offered a fairly long stay in Eugene, OR, we were grateful to accept the offer. It was a win/win for everyone, they wanted to get away from rainy, gray, cool Eugene, Oregon but wanted someone to occupy their house while they were gone. We see the wisdom as it gave us time to be out of the van and buckle down to work on some rather complicated projects.
Walking Our Path
Nicki Scully totally invested in us when she had all the confidence in our ability as a team to create a soundtrack for her Egyptian themed course, a guided meditation. Bright Hawk has done an entire series for Nikki, in the past, but with Sounds True. Hollis Taylor had just finished their online education in sound engineering and accepted the challenge on their first big project with Nicki Scully! Although Hollis has a huge history with tech they didn’t actually have a whole lot of music history. Hollis had just started allowing themself to be part of creating music but for the most part, kept to tap dancing and enjoying music. An old story told to them by their parents, “You are tone-deaf and you lack rhythm” which was later reiterated by friends and lovers. It was a hard message to hear sometimes because Hollis held such a passion for music and sound, but we can all relate to believing those older or bigger than you. Eventually, most of us wake up to question those old stories. Somehow, Nicki just believed in us and our first creation was more than she had ever imagined. Hollis was grateful for Nicki’s firm belief in them because in most cases that is all one needs to exceed expectations.
After Nicki’s recording we moved on to Bright Hawk’s album and we both learned so much in our experience. Hollis struggled with a learning curve not just in music but the tech, as well, Ableton is a complicated software. Bright Hawk struggled with being perfect. We all know that no performer is perfect but Bright Hawk had to somehow have a perfect telling of her story, perfect rhythm, and tons of perfectly tuned instruments. We aren’t even including the challenge of having average hardware. One of the most interesting things about watching a musician or storyteller live is that it is never the same, it’s not monotonous, and if it is, we aren’t usually having a very good time.
Bright Hawk is great with the Live Audience because she knows if she has a great time, so will her audience! Today, with digital editing and so forth we had to decide…. did we want to make her beats PERFECT like a computer? Many people love to dance to this and there is tons of music with this vibration and in fact, most people listen to music like this, today. Even though we know, a live musician is never perfect, as humans were not created that way – this is why we love DJs so deeply. The beat can help us trance out and dance out whatever we might be holding inside. Although world beat is not like this, much world music can’t be perfect because a human is playing the rhythm. In our struggle, we instead decided to record, edit and produce natural experimental music with stories but it still meant that Bright Hawk had to be as close to perfect as she could be. Not just in the rhythm but don’t miss say a word in your storytelling, let your voice go too high or low and a cold could really slow you down! As an experimental album, we just weren’t sure how others would like or not like it.
We intended it to be something you can keep in your CD player and listen from beginning to end. Our intention is that by the end you feel connected, loved, and positive – ready to continue with your day. The music and stories remind us of our humanity, human connection, how to help each other feel included, and our connection to nature. Inspiring and heart-filling, we want you to feel positive by the time your done listening. Instant positivity, perfect for the human race right now!
This year we extended our “out of van” time, again as house sitters! Deep in Eugene again we found ourselves now in service to Indigo – for her Egyptian online courses. Although this time, Indigo wants an entire set of 13 tracks for all the parts of her course. We are grateful for the work and grateful we gained so much experience last year with Nikki’s meditation and then Bright Hawk’s Music & Stories album. This year we notice we are more efficient, faster, and we both have better ears. Also, the naysayers’ voices are muted, including the ones on repeat! We, in fact, have fallen in love with making these guided meditations and want to keep creating them, regardless of the theme. Look for this in 2020 and beyond!
As Bright Hawk is playing with her kalimba to find the right melody for our newest audio project. Hollis is taking care of business and finds something, “Bright Hawk, WOW! We are sold out of our album at CD Baby, they want us to send our stock!” Bright Hawk freezes and stares at Hollis perplexed. Bright Hawk wasn’t sure if anyone would want this album as it’s different and experimental, it is not what everyone is USED to listening to. She took in what Hollis said and then reacted with, “No way!” Hollis smiles and shows Bright Hawk the screen where it says “Sold Out” and then clicks over to the email that sends “Please send us restock, you are sold out!” Apparently CDBaby’s favorite email to send! A fantastic email to receive when your not sure if it was worth the production time, energy and money.
We look at each other and smile. We did our best and we were both 100% authentic, we didn’t try to be like anyone else. Instead, we embraced our imperfections and now it looks like people might actually appreciate that. In our world today everything tells you to be LIKE THIS or LIKE THAT but we were made from the stars in perfection. Our imperfections are perfectly beautiful and the world is waking up to that, now. Looks like we are perfectly on time! Follow your heart, be exactly who you need to be because someone needs you to be that!
We are also excited to be part of “Our Haven’s” Beltane in French Lick, Indiana! Bright Hawk is a featured artist and offering her storytime experience along with a workshop! Look for upcoming announcements about upcoming events for Summer of 2020.
Craving Bright Hawk drumming around the fire? If you have been craving a full Fire Circle with Bright Hawk – grab your gear because we are putting together a collaborative Fire Circle that includes DAYLIGHT dance hours!
YUP, that’s right we are adjusting the timing so that we can include children, families, elders, and individuals that might struggle for health or other reasons with the all-night model. So if you’re ready for something different watch for the upcoming website launch. Mark your calendar friends – June 4th -8th 2020 in McGrath, MN at a place called “The Shire in the Woods”. You can rent cabins and so forth, so if that’s your thing watch this email for more announcements! Our main intention is to be inclusive, we hope to dance with you in the LIGHT at Heartland Fire.
We love to visit our friends all along the way, so when a good friend asked us to brave high altitude in snow season to soak in sacred waters with her for her 60th Birthday, we said YES! We were honored to hold space for her during this sacred time and to spend some time in natural hot springs. She had a favorite place and invited us for a few days just before the American holiday, Thanksgiving. It seemed Mother Nature was willing to cooperate. After a stopover in Flagstaff, AZ we were grateful for Pleasant Journey Alpacas to stay with our Harvest Hosts Membership. We enjoyed a quiet night, a bit of electricity for our little space heater and fantastic neighbors. The next morning we were excited to experiment with the handpan and alpacas. Here’s is what happened, we captured it on video for you!
Fun to see what the Alpacas would do for the handpan!
Since Mother Nature was creating an opening for us to drive up in altitude we took advantage of the opening. We know that roads are well plowed but our van on the edge of roads with slippery frozen melted snow can be very scary, especially with no side rails. We planned to drive in the midday, up through Ouray, CO to Orvis Hot Springs near Telluride, CO. We checked the road conditions cameras and we were confident about our climb in altitude. We were mesmerized by the beauty of long slow drive up the mountain with a gorgeous view of the Rocky Mountains. As we wound up the mountain we began to notice that the snow was getting deeper and more prevalent. As we climbed even further it was clear that some areas where what we call ‘black ice’. Mountain people like us know that ‘black ice’ can be dangerous because it looks like its just damp, but actually it’s a sheet of ice. We proceed slowly, pulling over to let little front wheel drive cars with skis on their roof, go ahead. As we climbed in altitude Bright Hawk found herself gripping the wheel as if that would make her more accurate in her driving. She paid close attention to the road, watching for black ice, going slow and steady. That was Bright Hawk’s superpower when we were climbing, slow and steady. Often in a slow and steady pace you can find contentment and stability through an otherwise stressful situation. Hollis appreciated this calm strong approach and joined Bright Hawk in holding the energy of our end result: Landing at the Hot Spring, soaking in sacred waters, and chatting with our friend.
These Guys where super cute!
After a stressful drive we were grateful to have overcome with determination and stability. We finally landed at Orvis Hot Springs. Living in a van offers many benefits and challenges, it seems to call some of us on a deep level, and often people don’t fully comprehend this is our 3rd winter in our van. We often take a couple of months away from the van by house sitting for others but it takes a bit to fully comprehend a couple that lives full time in an RV Van. As a result we don’t always pack in the same way for things, because we always have a kitchen with us or we always have a variety of clothes stashed in our van. Our work can be done everywhere and when running your own business, every opportunity to get some work done is a potential step in progress. Progress is the reward when working for yourself! As we empty out into the room with our friend we are reminded of just how different we pack. Thank goodness our friend is flexible. In the hot springs we use quiet time in the sacred waters to more deeply develop our brands and make plans for our future. Our planning often inspires our friends to harvest their own potentiality, and since our friend is about to retire, she loves to think about it. We love to support anyone dreaming of their future and working to overcome whatever holds us back. We all enjoy the waters, discuss our potentiality and our future. After several days, we all receive the rewards of deep relaxation and we are faced with only a small window to leave this mountain town without large accumulation of snow on the roads for the next many days.
We make our plans to go our separate ways after great times in sacred water. We use all our resources about weather and road conditions to plan on landing in a little donut hole between all the storms set to reach this area in the coming day. We plan our road trip in the middle of the day this time with just one challenging area. The roads in Norwood, CO could be dangerous if the temperature drops, although we notice it’s not supposed to be too cold. It is the warm spot just before a big snow storm and we are grateful to have found a place to safely hunker down in between storms. Our biggest concern was road conditions heading out, sometimes mountains can have unexpected weather.
Fun Farm to camp at overnight, great people!
As we headed out we were grateful to have a mostly easy drive, yet with a few spots of black ice. When a mountain shadows a part of the road, yet the snow is melting on the other side of the hill down into the shadow area. Often that can become black ice and we are quickly approaching the one high altitude pass that could be a potential problem, Norwood, CO. We are grateful when the road is mostly clear and we are aware that our choice to leave during the height of the sun was a good choice. We come around a blind corner to slowed traffic, “Oh No, I hope it’s not an accident!” As we both look ahead and wind around and up the mountain we begin to realize what will become the biggest challenge off this mountain top.
We are in a line of traffic just like the cows, being led up the hill by a herd of cattle, literally. The handlers on their horses working hard to keep the cows from cutting us off. As we drive right next to cows working so hard to get up the hill through snow and right on the edge of a pretty large cliff. We are inspired by their trust for each other as they follow blindly behind each other. Occasionally one would get spooked and step out of the line and we would feel connection to this amazingly strong animal. We have all had those moments, where we step out – challenge the status quo and either change the whole group as a result or realize it was not the right time and jump back in. Fascinating to watch the handlers on their horses driving these cows to another place for reasons we didn’t comprehend. We found ourselves grateful that these cows get to walk and graze on grass and although we had no idea what their destiny was, we knew it was better than in some places in our country. Witnessing farming has influenced how we see our food.
As we mentioned, #Vanlife, will change you forever. Vanlife is challenging with unique blessings and lessons. Applying compassion, love, understanding, excellent communication, and vulnerability we are uplifted with an experience that teaches us a lot about human relationships with nature, animals and each other. Simple witnessing the entire herd being moved by the handlers on horses, with the ancient art of being a cowgirl/cowboy, we could sense the deep love and respect they had for the animals. Also, we sensed that the animals, for the most part, trusted their handlers. Although, just like with humans, there are always outliers and sometimes they would change the entire line of cattle for the better. Such as getting them away from a steep cliff, we would notice that the handlers would see what spooked them, and then let it be changed. Is this an example of living in harmony with cattle, we weren’t convinced, but we had a deeper understanding of the history of cattle raising.
Video of our COW encounters
This was our biggest challenge leaving the area. We were happy to arrive at the Hovenweep Campground, pretty much all to ourselves as the holiday was upon us. We hope you will keep reading as we continue to harvest stories from our adventures on the road of life. Stories are developed by Hollis Taylor (Author of Divine Androgyne) & Bright Hawk your Storyteller here at BrightHawkProductions.com
A Beautiful Journey
We are working hard to develop more products for you this winter, so stay tuned for upcoming big announcements. Need something positive and unique for your event? Bright Hawk offers performances for 60-90 mins of live storytelling with the handpan that will leave your community feeling connected, loved, and inspired. A modern rendition of the ancient art of storytelling with a very modern instrument. Bright Hawk’s messages are sincere, inspiring and engaging to audiences that desire positive thinking, lifelong learning, and love for all people. Bright Hawk offers real-life travel stories, original and traditional fictional stories to intrigue even grown up imaginations. Bright Hawk is planning her 2020 schedule now and welcomes invitations to visit your community in 2020!
After a great time celebrating our friend’s birthday at Orvis Hot Springs, we had to fly out in between big snowstorms. As we defrosted Pegasus, our Ford Transit Van, and got on the road we were excited about where the weather was pointing us this holiday. We were excited to land just outside the Canyon of the Ancients, in Utah. It made sense because many storms wherein the 4 corners area and this spot would be spared. It might get a little cold but we really needed to avoid any kind of snow accumulation.
Intense skies validate the upcoming winter storm over the Holiday
After our experience on the “Forgiving” Holiday at Standing Rock a few years ago we were inspired to celebrate the holiday in a different way. We work at giving Gratitude all day and every day but on “Thanksgiving” aka “Forgiving” we learn about the history of the Indigenous peoples of North America. We honor their tribes, all they have been through. We where deeply honored this year to learn about the ancient culture that live at “Hovenweep” on the west side of the Canyon of the Ancients, teeny little place that is likely part of the ancient Pueblo People. It even has its own inexpensive boondocking campsite! Our biggest challenge in this space would be wind, considering what we were surrounded by, we were grateful on this holiday to be on such sacred land.
We took the 2-mile hike around the canyon, carefully visiting and learning about each ruin. We noticed everything was on the edge of the canyon or in the canyon. The sky was cloudy, a little threatening but the weather prediction just showed cloudiness. We embraced the moment to tune into this ancient civilization and appreciated all the anthropologists that had studied here. What they unfolded was the truth about the first people of this land, that in fact maybe they weren’t so ‘primitive’. As we walked the edge and stared at the ruins we imagined them not much different than us now, except they of course didn’t have the technology. At least they didn’t have cell phones and computers but we are sure they communicated, maybe through scouts or drumming from one mountain top to another? We wondered about the food they ate, farmed, and stored! Truly they were enlightened with the wisdom to live in harmony with nature – seemed many ancient civilizations understood this. We wondered how humanity had lost this connection, so many theories and opinions on that for sure. Most of us agree we must figure out how to live in harmony. After all, these ancient people lived here 800yrs ago and many other civilizations lived on earth for way longer. They didn’t deplete the land as we do in just a couple hundred years!
The day got windier and windier and we were grateful for the break from the winds as we descended into the canyon on the trail. We were grateful to understand even deeper just how smart these folks where, how they knew this desert would be very windy. We stood there in the center of the canyon, looking up at the threatening sky in wonderment at how these people learned to live in this canyon. As we deeply benefited in those moments to be completely protected from the 25mph winds up on the edge of the canyon, we smiled and KNEW deeply that these people where in harmony with nature. We began to grow hungry so we decided to finish the hike and go back to our van for lunch. We began to harvest the wisdom of these ancient people’s and honor their intelligence, connection, and mystery.
We were sure that the weather would stay calm even though the sky looked a little confused. As we climbed up the other side of the cliff to walk along the edge of the canyon back to the campsite we found ourselves looking upwards. Half the sky, was very dark and threatening but thank goodness we were moving towards the more clear sky. The light fluffly clouds encouraged us to just keep walking and we thought. How could we possibly blog about our experience today, in a good way? Really it’s a simple hike, maybe we find a way to share the wisdom of these ancient people. We had began to contemplate this story as the wind picked up, more and more. Both of us looking up now it seemed the half of the sky that was dark had reached out for us and it was blowing harder, faster and more intensely. We walk a little faster and it seems that cloud reaches for us even more and now with hail and snow pouring down on us so fast we barely can comprehend where the sun ran off to. The hail and the snow blew so hard both of us where reminded of blizzard conditions. Putting our heads down and practically running for shelter we noticed that something so confusing was happening above us, that the snow appeared blue. We ducked into the public bathroom, panting from running, and both of us relieved to be out of the weather.
Minutes later we want to dart for our van, but now the weather has stopped. As if the ancients wanted us to share this with you, and they added just enough excitement to make it a story for YOU! We hope you are enjoying this Story Blog. All stories are developed by Bright Hawk – a professional long time storyteller that often plays music with her stories. AND Hollis Taylor, author and longtime blogger. We share these stories to inspire wanderers, open your heart and eyes, and to recommend some cool places to visit.
As a Queer couple we stand with the LGBTQ community in proving that, no matter who you love, we are all just human beings having a human experience on planet earth. With Diversity and harmony we know, just like in nature, we can all thrive as a human race together. Thank you for your support! If your interested in having us visit YOUR community, please be sure to contact us. We are happy and honored to visit you along our journeys. We are booking 2020, right now.
Bright Hawk’s CD offers her fun stories that inspire our best selves, we hope you take a moment to listen. She also has a few songs on the album that she drafted with the handpan, the instrument she often uses while storytelling. We hope you take a moment to order and download her CD, follow us on Facebook/Instagram/Youtube for future growth in 2020!
We felt positively confident about our stop at Granite Hot Springs, since we had been to this public land the year prior. This is our second year touring the northwest US in our Honda FIT and we are feeling more confident in our use of public lands, and how to find them — we even had a few favorites along the way. Granite Hot Springs was our favorite from last year, Hollis loves waterfalls almost as much as trees and Bright Hawk loves hot springs almost as much as the wilderness. We both agreed that this place was worth more exploration and time. We dreamed about our future home on wheels as we drove past RV, Vans, and truck campers staying out on the edge of the river as we arrived. We wondered if the cows would be on the road like the year prior. With experience, we were less nervous about the cattle we encounter grazing on a lot of public lands. Honestly, we prefer seeing them grazing on wild public lands overcrowded bins on industrial cattle farms, at least this way they got to live a fair life, comparatively. We loved it when the cows visit us along the way. This day we didn’t see the cows but it was getting dark when we arrived. We had spent a couple of days in Yellowstone followed by a visit to Grand Teton. After hikes and exploration of the National Parks we were ready for a cozy night under the stars and some therapeutic waters.
This time we knew better than to camp in unmarked land, we got away with it last time but this time there were less people and the campground had plenty of open sites. This time we took a campsite a bit close to the water and the waterfall was now something in the distance. Although knowing it was there somehow inspired the soul. As we set up camp we were careful and bear aware, many signs around camp included warnings about bears. We carefully washed our dishes away from our tent and locked up all our food stuff in the car. Bright Hawk was sure to set up the tent with no scented things that might tempt a bear. We were aware that we were visiting in the fall, a rather hungry time for bears. We tucked ourselves neatly into our beds with dreams of visiting the hot springs the next day and also we needed to figure out where people where going at the end of the road. We fell asleep dreaming of exploring the space the next day in the light of day.
Campsite Set Up
Welcome Back!
Peaceful Campground
View from our Campsite
Granite Hot Springs Campground
Hollis is a fairly sound sleeper and can be caught sleeping with the loudest of music. They are rarely woken up by anything other than direct contact. This was a night that Hollis felt cozy, confident and very tired after days of hiking. Hollis found themselves woken in what could be defined as ‘the dead of night’ with no signs of the sun and not much noise. Except Hollis noticed something outside the tent, making the entire ground rumble beneath them. As Hollis’ eyes got larger and the part moon shined just enough shadow/light for Hollis to know there was a bear just outside the tent. Sniffing at the picnic table and walking around the camp looking for food. Hollis laid completely still, terrified that a bear was close enough and BIG ENOUGH to make the ground rumble. Hollis’ laid frozen beneath the sleeping bag, sweating but completely focused on what the bear was up to. Hollis hoped they didn’t have the toothbrush in the tent. Suddenly the worried mind took off with all sorts of worries like ‘can it break the windows of the car’ – ‘what if my clothes has food on it and he decides to try to get in here, what should I do’ – Soon Hollis’ storyteller had at least a dozen scenarios with only a half dozen solutions, Hollis’ heart rate increases. Hollis takes a deep breathe and says to themselves silently ‘you are still okay, in this moment everything is okay’ Hollis takes three slow full breaths, in and completely out as much as possible. Then, Hollis listened to the bear and begins to notice the bear was following a different scent, up the hill away from our campsite. Hollis exhales several sighs of relief, wondering if Bright Hawk slept through the whole thing. Hollis whispers, ‘are you awake.’ Bright Hawk says “What is it?” Hollis giggles in silence and whispers, “A bear was just outside the tent. Stay still I think it has left.”
Deep Wilderness
Misty Mountain Morning
Buffalo Road Blocks
Buffalo
We are sleeping on the ground in a truly WILD place
Now in unified listening we both validate that the bear has left our campsite and we both eventually settle back to sleep, ready for our next day. As the sun began to peak over the horizon we found ourselves packing up early so we can explore the rest of the day before we continue driving back to Colorado. As we get a quick breakfast, coffee and tea to go, and everything packed back up in the car. We noticed, while packing, that many cars are just going right by the waterfall/hotspring area. We are excited to see what is past the waterfall since we have never explored past the waterfalls and little soaking spring. We consider soaking before we head down the road because NOW it’s empty, but will it be empty after we explore down the road. We consider our choice for a moment and with the momentum of packing we keep going.
We drive past where we camped last year and the waterfall and hot spring. Here we could park, walk down the hill to the river, cross the river and soak in a little natural hot springs perfect for two people. We did this last year! From the waterfall parking area there was a hill that goes upwards. Last time we had noticed a lot of cars going up there, very carefully in a lot of cases. The road was rutted out and looked like we would need go slow in our little low lying Honda Fit. We wind around a corner and climb up a bit of a hill. As we come around the tree full area we see a building and as we approach we see signs. Signs giving instruction about parking to enter the hot springs, the prices and other various related information.
As we realize that the tiny spring from last time we visited was a teeny weeny reflection of the pools we are now looking at, large enough for 20+ people. For $10 we can soak all day if we want! We look at each other and start laughing at how we completely missed this the year before. Mostly because the road was challenging and we were grateful with what we found, a waterfall and a fun adventure across the river to a hot springs. This time though we decided to treat ourselves to a soaking for a nice long soak. It seems, that in most cases, there is more than one way to do things!
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Need something positive and unique for your event? Bright Hawk offers performances for 60-90 mins of live storytelling with the handpan that will leave your community feeling connected, loved, and inspired. A modern rendition of the ancient art of storytelling with a very modern instrument. Bright Hawk’s messages are sincere, inspiring and engaging to audiences that desire positive thinking, lifelong learning, and love for all people. Bright Hawk offers real-life travel stories, original and traditional fictional stories to intrigue even grown up imaginations. Bright Hawk is planning her 2020 schedule now and welcomes invitations to visit your community in 2020!
