I drove all day until I got to Big Sur and was exhausted. When I saw a sign saying Big Sur Hot Springs Lodge, I pulled down the steep driveway and spent 6 days there. This was my first encounter with hippies. I was tempted to stay forever, so awed was I by the natural beauty, the inaccessibility of the place, the unusualness of the people. I became close with the man who ran the place, Dick Price. The Hot Springs Lodge became the Esalen Institute and Dick ran that as well until his death in the 80s. I frequently returned to Big Sur to stay with Dick till I moved to France and married my first husband.

My second husband, Tom Hayden, and I went there from time to time. We would visit Dick, take him to dinner at the newly built Ventana “hotel.”

My 3rd husband, Ted Turner, has a lovely cabin there where we spent many a happy weekend. And now, I went back with Richard and new friends of mine, the Somers , and stayed at Post Ranch which is relatively new and stupendous. So many memories and emotions kept flooding back over the 5 days. Happiness and also sadness. I think the latter was due to the unavoidable sense of time passing, things from the past that will be no more. But happiness prevailed.

I took my first Tai Chi class and enjoyed it enough to want to do it more and regularly. Enjoy the photos.

My daughter, Vanessa Vadim, is the environmental know-it-all for an important new website called Mother Nature Network (MNN). Her column is called “Ask Vanessa.” In it, she answers your questions about all things Green and sustainable – everything from what fish are safe to eat, whether pellet stoves a good way to heat, even an open letter to Obama telling him what she hopes he will accomplish for the nation. She’s currently answering my question about natural gas cars. Check it out.
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/ask-vanessa