Recently, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Mt. Rainier and Mt Olympic in Washington. It was breathtaking. There were magnificent vistas from every vantage point and beauty at every turn. Driving around the area was awe inspiring. Colossal pines, flanked on both sides, lined the roads everywhere we went. Snow-capped Mt. Rainier provided some of the most spectacular hiking trails I have ever been on, most especially at Paradise located at the top of the mountain. 

I've explored mountain ranges in Tennessee, Colorado, California, North & South Carolina, and New Mexico, and I believe the sheer magnitude and beauty of the mountains found in Washington provide the very best experience anywhere I have visited.

I'm grateful I had a chance to see this part of the country. I realize how many people never have an opportunity to travel and see what a remarkable country America is. There are children who have never left their city's limits, and worse still, are those who have never traveled outside their inner city neighborhoods. I know I am fortunate, and I remind myself of that everyday during my gratitude meditation.

Being in nature is a rejuvenating experience. The Japanese called it Shinrin Yoku, "Forest Bathing". I love that description. To walk in a forest is to bathe in nature's essence and return from it with sense of well being. I believe this travel experience left an indelible impression on me. I would recommend visiting this part of the country to anyone seeking to be emotionally and spiritually moved. I was and I am better for it.

by Chelse Benham, Lae Lae team member

I often have children tell me that they can't do anything artistic but I tell them that everyone can create artistically.  What is art? just look around;  it's everywhere; from package design to magazine design; to building design, to web site design.  So many things involve artistic creativity.  I am now a sculptor, I produce children's books, I design jewelry; but I started in commercial advertising design; it's all artistic creativity.

One of my favorite projects teaching children is my class "What is Art?". This class can be done with all ages.; from pre-school to high school.  To begin the class, I put things like a painting, a cereal box, a pamphlet and a small figurine before the students and I ask them what they all have in common.  At first they can't see anything but I tell them that they are all created by an artist.  

Then I tell them that we are going to take the throwaways of life and make something artistic.  I have a large bag of throwaway items from hardware stores, home and garden centers, grocery stores and craft stores.  This can be anything from packing styrofoam to stir sticks to twist ties or pieces of cardboard.  I empty everything onto a table at the front of the room and the children take turns coming to get things to work with.  Then they have 30 - 40 minutes to "create".  The time depends on the age and attention span of the children with the younger children needing more "hands on" help than the older students. 

It is amazing the creative things that they can come up with.  After they are all finished, we have a few minutes of "Show and Tell" where they can each talk about their creation or they can invite the other students to guess what they have made.  It gets a little messy but it is a lot of fun. It teaches the children to see the artistic in everything around us and to value the creativity in everything.  It also teaches them to recycle and reuse, and to not just throw away.

Today there is such an emphasis on the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in school and that is great and so needed for the future but there is and always will be a need for the artistic part of the human brain to express itself and for artistic creativity to be evidenced in the world.

It would be wonderful if all animals were loved and honored in their native homes in the wild but unfortunately that is not the case.  Because of poaching, habitat loss, climate change and the market in animal parts, many animals are critically endangered in the wild.  This is one reason why I am so proud of San Diego Zoo Global, a conservation organization dedicated to the science of saving endangered species worldwide.  San Diego Global operates three world-class facilities: the San Diego Zoo, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Together they have saved and, in many cases, reintroduced to the wild, more than 33 species of birds, mammals and reptiles 

Last weekend, I took my granddaughters (seen lounging on a life-size bronze rhino at the Park) to the Safari Park and, since it was forecast to be 100 degrees, we arrived to be among the first in when it opened at 9 a.m.  In fact, the girls were so excited to be going that they popped out of bed at 6:30 a.m. ready to leave. Since opening in 1972, the Park has been visited by more than 2 million people annually, is home to more than 2,600 animals representing more than 300 species and incorporates the world's largest veterinary hospital.   

When we arrived we went straight to the Tiger Trail to see the critically endangered Sumatran tigers.  I told the girls that we were very fortunate to be able to see the majestic tigers out and prowling as they would be sleep later in the day.  After the tiger experience, we were introduced to a beautiful Serval cat native to sub-Saharan Africa and a Tawney Frogmouth, a bird native to Australia and Tasmania by trainers in the Animal Encounters program.  

We then had to choose what we could see in our visit because the park is so large (the total, though not all accessible to the public, is 1,800 acres) before it got too hot; so we headed off to catch the bird show on the other side of the park as it is always a favorite with children. Along the way we stopped to play in the children's playground, ride the carousel, walk through the bird aviary, visit the flamingos, cranes and ducks in the lagoons and enjoy the botanical gardens in the mist.  We visited the playful gorillas (the girls loved the baby gorilla on its mother's back) and we finished the morning with lunch.  After lunch, we watched a most entertaining bird show with birds swooping down over our heads in amazing feats and then we headed for the entrance and home.  We were TIRED: four and one half hours was enough for a 4 year old and 7 year old and their grandmother as well!

San Diego Global reaches around the world with more than 100 conservation projects in 35 countries. Some of their unending efforts in wildlife conservation and rehabilitation are amazing.  The Safari Park has the world's most successful breeding program for the endangered Southern White Rhinos, has saved the California Condor from extinction and reinforced them to the wild and has worked with China to expand the panda population at their Wolong breeding center from 25 bears to more than 100.  Through the "natural environment setting" of the Safari Park, children like my grandchildren can see, learn about, appreciate and value wildlife that they might never be able to see in the wild.  It is one of my favorite places to visit; I feel that we are fortunate to have it and I love introducing it to my grandchildren.