Time and funds permitting, I try to go on retreat every year or two. I like driving someplace new, someplace I've never been before, and getting off the grid for a couple of days. I find that it makes it much easier to relax, rest, catch up on my reading (or sometimes television), do some writing, tinker with locks a bit, and generally be nonverbal for about a week. It's not easy these days (and won't be for a while, I suspect) but it is something that I at least attempt periodically. The AirBnB I rented had a most unusual design, it was basically a wedge built into a hillside so that the earth that covered the walls and much of the roof formed insulation (something that many houses in this state lack). Because I'm not a total maniac I try to make sure that there is connectivity where I am, and this particular location had both DSL and Starlink service in a shotgun configuration, which worked surprisingly well. I will say, however, that takeout that far in northern California can be a bit dodgy and I found myself getting quite sick just before the end of my trip.
All of that aside I did some hiking and took some photographs of the forest out that way, some things I came across, and the local wildlife that visited me once in a while. I never did see the bear that I was told about but the deer there, while not actually tame did approach more closely than expected.
I know nobody really likes to hear these words, but here are my vacation pictures.