Lately, our best travel experiences seem to happen when we don’t plan anything.
Some of it has to do with low (or no) expectations. And partly it’s putting ourselves in places where good experiences are likely to happen – and then keeping an open mind to letting the good times roll.
Case in point: we recently spent a few days hanging out at a 160-acre eco retreat in the mountains near Twisp, WA at a place called Skalitude Retreat. We found this little gem on short notice through AirBnB after we realized that we had a few open days open on the calendar and a grandma who was eager to babysit young Ian.
This place totally reminded us of backpacking around the world, as it features creative little details everywhere you look, plus a vibe conducive to meditation retreats.
Here’s a wood fired sauna overlooking part of the expansive property.
The resort is off grid in the sense that it’s powered by solar panels and the water is sourced from a spring. But we had good phone reception and wifi service, so while it felt remote, we could also work.
In the center of the lodge, there was an enormous stone hearth that slowly absorbed heat from the wood stove, and then returned it at night, keeping the building a nice even temperature. The kitchen had a traditional gas range as well as a wood fired oven if you felt like pretending you were in Little House on the Prairie.
The lodge advertised miles of groomed and backcountry skiing with excellent views, but to our dismay, our valley was choked with fog during most of our visit. But when life gives you fog, go sledding!
Cross Country trails are groomed using an ATV with tank-like treads pulling a little corrugated groomer.
The flag circle is partly for meditation and partly because they look cool. The property info says:
We think they are magical, how they make visible what is normally invisible (the wind). Sometimes they all blow the same direction, sometimes half are going one way and the other half a different way. It can go from quite still to really blowing in an instant! Sitting in the center of them is a wonderful place to meditate, some people have said the flags seem to respond to their thoughts.
Skalitude Retreat hosts lots of yoga retreats, spirit quests and speakers by famous mystics (their calendar even boasts an annual Fairy Congress where you can communicate with the Fairy and Devic realms) but the average traveler can score last minute stays, especially in winter. We had an entire lodge to ourselves for about $150/nite. This would also be a great place to host a family reunion or retreat with a group of friends.
