Overnight in Eden

The Emerald Iguana Inn in Ojai is afordable, close and yet seemingly far away. It doesn't get any better than this unless your idea of a romantic getaway is dinner at Denny's in Vernon, an evening of bowling and a Motel-6.

Maybe Genesis had this place in mind, a paradisial spot built in among the flora with old growth craggy oak, high bamboo and eucalyptus several hundred feet tall. We woke to plants with silvery speckles from the night's drizzle and a deep breath of whatever rain releases from plant life.

Julie and Marc Whitman, architect and proprietors, brought back the best of Bali decorating the cottages and landscape with Oceanic art which seemed somehow organic to the adobe arches and rustic grounds.

I could imagine the Chumash people sanctifying this spot as they hid from Father Junipero Serra and his band of zealots ever on the hunt for slaves and converts to their version of an Eden which the Indians had already found.

Ojai has become a refuge for folks who bought Google or Microsoft at three along with Hippies turned Yuppies and unreconstructed Hippies turned artisans or Buddhists, New Age aromatherpists, psychics and palmists. A fine mix of the enlightened along with those who don't agree with me. It is the town where Peggy and I trekked, 27 years ago, to hear Krishnamurti preach ("do not follow the speaker") and visit with Beatrice Wood, the potter.

They also host an annual classical music festival for four days every June which has been running since 1947 with composers and conductors ranging from Aaron Copland to John Adams.
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There is an active Art Center where I was once invited to read some of my poetry; another indicator that there is still a place for mediocrity.

A closing note to say that getting away can be therapeutic as well as all the usual reasons for running off in the woods with one's mate. It’s a needed respite for the brain not to follow the latest political oscillations or seismic events and after-quakes in the Middle-East. More than diverting there is something healing to commune and not be two with nature. At this moment I want to recall my first inhalation this morning as I stepped outside filling my lungs with the scents given off by the wild and tended gardens of Ojai.