On Slow Life

Slow Travel & Glamping

Why Glamp? When Camping Meets Comfortable Beds and Inspiring Luxury Tents

Why Not?

Le Camp

A Slow Travel Choice

A simple hillside vineyard becomes a magical weekend retreat.  A tree-lined country field becomes a romantic honeymoon getaway.  From the U.S., to Africa, to Europe, to Asia, and beyond, locations are anywhere your imagination takes you.  You will soon see camping in a new light and will appreciate the sensory experiences that a little bit of luxury in the open air can provide.

With Natural Benefits

 

What is Glamping?

Camping + Luxury = Glamorous Camping

Here you can find and connect with unique and utterly breathtaking spaces with lavish services and amenities in some of the most beautiful landscapes this planet has to offer according to:   

Glampinghub.com

 

Abby Jeffords

Shares Her Winter Holiday Glamp On Slow Life

By Abby Jeffords- Editor Glamping Hub

 

eco structures featured glamp dwellings @ glampinghub.com

When you think about glamping (glamorous camping), images of butlers, champagne flutes, heated floors, soaking tubs and personal chefs might flash before you.  

Luxury camping can seem, for many people, to be too expensive. In reality,  it could combines the best of the natural and the magical world of innovative hotels.   It is true that the world’s finest glamping accommodations tip the scales in both luxury amenities and monetary obligation, but although you certainly get what you pay for if you are lucky enough to be a guest at one of these establishments, to say that glamping, in general, is inaccessible to all is simply untrue. 

 

Not too long ago, my friends and I decided we wanted to take a weekend trip outside of San Francisco.  As students, our pockets were not too deep, but we wanted to indulge a bit and steer clear of dingy motels and big box hotels.  And although camping would have been the least expensive alternative, none of us was organized enough to arrange a full-scale camping trip.  We were looking for an adventure but we needed a happy medium and I do after all, write know about Glamping.

A recent article about glamping, hailed luxury camping as a mockery of true camping and something that none but the top 2% of the population could afford to do.  My friends and I were clearly not in that financial tier. In reality,glamping has an enormous range of options, in both price and accommodation style. Glamping is simply any lodging situation that allows you to get close to nature without all of the hassle of setting up your own campground.

 

Getting back to my search for our weekend excursion, I was able to find several glamping sites that fit the bill perfectly. 

  

 

The first option I found was Treebones Resort on the Big Sur coast.  For about $200 per night, Treebones offers a choice of 16 spacious luxury yurts on a hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  Although the lodgings are secluded, the amenities abound.  Heated pool, cozy lodge, massage service.  And the daytime activities are endless:  hiking, surfing, swimming, whale watching and eco tours.

 

 

Big Basin Tent Cabins

The second and least expensive option I found was Big Basin Tent Cabins, nestled inside of Big Basin Sate Park Park, and surrounded by towering redwoods and miles of hiking trails and bike paths.  No butlers or 800 thread-count sheets here.  But at $75 per night, it offers the perfect combination of outdoor adventure and comfort, with rustic, wood stove-heated cabins, clean common washrooms and private picnic tables and grills.  Guests bring their own food and bedding, head out into the park by day and relax by the fire by night. 

 

 

El Capitan Canyon Glamp

The third option I found was Sequoia High Sierra Camp.At the highest possible end of our price range, around $250 per person per night, this spot offers a glimpse of glamping in all of its finery.  Located near both Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks, and with the closest parking almost a mile away, this spot would certainly attract avid hikers and travellers looking for a true outdoor experience.  But it is much more than just a campsite.  Each canvas cabin is luxuriously furnished and guests can enjoy exquisite handcrafted meals as part of their stay. 

Sequoia High Sierra Camp

How to choose?  After much debate, my friends and I decided to go to Big Basin Tent Cabins and it was an absolutely incredible experience.  We had to roll up our sleeves a bit but it was well worth it.

If you want to unzip the roof of your dwelling to the open sky, star gaze, listen to nature instead of other guests banging on the walls of your hotel room, glamp away. Style and nature work well with a little imagination.

 

A Glamp Site Making A Difference- Many Do  

Karen Blixen Camp & Tents

So if you want to pretend you are Karen Blixen in Out of Africa, you actually can. The African tent safari is in a category of its own but just to whet your appetite and learn about the amazing programs they are doing for the Maasai people go to Karen Blixen Camp.  

Glamping links that will get you outside 

www.glampinghub.com

lecamp.co.uk/ -Very French

www.elcapitancanyon.com

www.costanoa.com

www.glampinggirl.com

www.wanderlusthospitality.com/

http://www.coolcamping.co.uk/

 

Slow Life With Trees

Under The Influence Of The Redwood Tree

vs.

The Palm Tree

 

Photos by Wendy Abrams

Living under the majestic redwoods of Northern California is wildly different than languishing under the palms in Southern California. I have lived with both. Redwoods are mysterious, wise and moody. They thrive in fog and inspire the imagination and they belong where they are. They have an ancient history and a royal magical presence. Being in their cathedrals always makes me stop and look up, take a deep breathe and imagine time.

 

Palm trees are more breathless. They are a backdrop rustling in the wind and moonlight.  They are props that enhance sunsets and encourage cocktail parties. 

 

The palm is a pom- pon of the sky, a vacation icon. They were a sign of victory, peace, fertility and an oasis. They are decorations and highlights that are playful soothing. 

 

 

 When palm trees blow around they are like snow drifts to be shoveled away after a Santa Ana wind. They can also be dazzling next to a pool when you swim at night. Palm Trees are teenagers and exotics. They can evoke anything and define vacation. If out of place they are ridiculous especially when they are next to a pine tree or a redwood. A redwood grove is never out of place, it simply is a place.

 

 
                               

 The Redwood holds its own under most pressure. They are sacred healers and inspire the deepest contemplation simply by being under them.

 

Homage to Woody @ The Larkspur Redwood House

I lived in a house in Larkspur, CA  with a cathedral on the property. Sometimes I caught my late Jack Russell Woody meditating in the center but he never admitted it. He hid in places around the trunks pretending I couldn’t see him wiggling his nose. I captured moments watching him  in the morning sun when the rays lit the morning and inspired him to lean against their trunks. 

 

  

The trees are my haven. They are embracing, listening but not judging. Being in the forest,  breathing their oxygen, I slow down. Trees hide me and open me up. They also give me hope about walking on earth because of the sheer beauty. Redwoods remind me of the past, and the distance of time. The redwood has been around for 25 centuries! They will be here when we are long gone and know that I stared at them, walked under them, lived with them. 

 

 Palms are slowly sublime

Living with these trees up and down the coast set the tone for what it feels like to live in California. The redwoods have my respect and the palm trees are like childhood memories. Both play a part in my experience, it's just part of the territory here being grown up and childlike playing with trees. 
  

Sustainable Quotes That Feed The Mind

 The Art of The Quote

Quotes are cool. I like their size and their low carbon footprint. You don't have to travel far to find them and they can come from anyone. I pulled together a few that I have collected. They may cause you to think about something for minute or two. Enjoy!

 

The Americans 

"Forgiveness is the perfume the violet releases on the heel that crushed it."  Mark Twain

 

 

 A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man's life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars. 

Henry David Thoreau

If there are flaws in your paradise, open more windows!

Henry Miller

"If one advances confidently in  the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he/she has imagined, she will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." Henry David Thoreau

 

"When you admit how much you love something you eliminate the need to make a problem out of getting it." 

 

"Every year I resolve to be a little less the me I know and leave a little room for the me I could be. Every year I make a note not to feel left behind by my friends and family who have managed to change far more than I.” Wendy Wasserstein

 

 

Jack Kerouac Words/ Image Ed Ruscha

 

"Here's the dilemma, Itself the solution. I have always been at the same time woman enough to be moved to tears and man enough to drive my car in any direction." Hettie Jones

 

"Every spirit builds itself a house, and beyond its house a world, and beyond its world a heaven. Know then that world exists for you." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Old age is no place for sissies." Bette Davis

"A woman in love can't be reasonable - or else she wouldn't be in love." Mae West

 

"The whole of science is nothing more than the refinement of everyday thinking." Albert Einstein

 

 "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." 

Albert  Einstein

 

"Back of every creation, supporting it like an arch, is faith. Enthusiasm is nothing: it comes and goes. But if one believes, then miracles occur." Henry MIller 

"I have always looked upon decay as being just as wonderful and rich an expression of life as growth." Henry MIller

"I never had my big moment but I have had many great ones." Wendy Abrams

 

"That woman speaks eighteen languages and she can't say 'No' in any of them!" Dorothy Parker 

"Anybody can observe the Sabbath but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week." Alice Walker

 

 " Apparently, there is nothing that cannot happen today." Mark Twain

 

 

                                           That's enough for now, thanks for stopping by

 

 

Slow Life In Los Angeles

Slow Life Means

Taking The Bus & Enjoying The Ride 

  
Karen of Westwood, A Slow Lifer Shows Us The Way

 "What's the big deal? Ok, sometimes bus drivers

don't stop for me. They don't think I'm the bus riding type."

In Los Angeles it is almost charming to ride the bus.  I don't take the bus and when I met my new friend Karen who has been living in LA for over three years,  one of the first things I learned about her is that she rides the bus.  She doesn't own a car, buses all over town even though she has a family, runs the house and manages to take care of business on the bus or on foot.  I started to feel a little guilty about how dependent I am on my car. I even drive it across Wilshire Blvd. to go to the park for a run sometimes because I don't always have the courage to cross that four lane massive  boulevard that feels like the 405 Freeway. And to top it off I write this blog so when I met her I wanted to show her off.

I was fascinated by her nonchalance about the whole thing.  She is chic and petite and has a son in middle school. She doesn't care about all the wrangling it takes to plan for her outings. She simply takes the bus, and when it's time to take the kids on a field trip, "We take the bus!"

Karen Looking Very Comfortable By The Bus Stop On Wilshre & Westwood

Karen is a New Yorker and finds it normal to ride the bus. The irony here is when she lived in New York, she had a car!  She had an antique business and had to move furniture around. So now that she is in LA, she just didn't get around to getting a car. Something I can't imagine being a native.

 "I never felt the need to have a car here. I take the bus  to fancy stores, the museum, the market and it's very easy." When she told me bus drivers sometimes don't stop for her at the bus stop, I had to pause. I suppose that means many white women with blonde hair on the Westside of Los Angeles don't take the bus.  As much as we eco loving, environmental liberal types boast the need to recycle, buy local and reuse our grocery bags, the bus really is the last frontier. Especially in Los Angeles. To Karen, it's a way of life she imported from New York. It's all about perception and maybe a little convenience. Even Los Angeles bus drivers need to open their eyes and pick up anyone who happens to be waiting at a bus stop.  Getting dissed by a bus driver will not help the cause to lighten traffic in this city. Getting passed by a bus driver also helps reinforce stereotypes so itt's a community effort indeed.

 
 

Riding The Bus Is A Great Way To Interact With Your City And 

In This Case, The Very Helpful People Just Waiting to Offer Advice!
 

"I take the bus to Saks in Beverly Hills or to the market," she says. "I took my son and his friends to LACMA on the bus to see the Tim Burton Exhibit. My son was slightly mortified that I didn't use my husband's car and carpool them. I think of it as normal." I thank Karen for being a sport and letting me make her my role model of the month. I followed her to her bus stop and took the time to notice all the people who do take the bus. It made me feel like I live in a real city where people interact on the street and help each other out. Maybe I'll give it a go.

 

Helpful Links to get on the bus

Wiki how to ride a bus in LA

Mad Man Actor Pete Campbell Only Rides The Bus in LA

Planet Green- How To Ride The Bus In LA