Some of you might know I grew up overseas—my dad was in the military and we were stationed in both Germany and Spain during my young school years. And, as an American growing up overseas, I would often long for everything American, especially what I saw as the “great wide open” of America–that mythical place where there was an entire grocery store aisle of breakfast cereal (this one blew my mind) and everyone owned a big ranch and wore a big hat like J.R. Ewing on Dallas; a place where you could ride your horse through the quintessential landscape of tall pine trees and wild bears and rugged cowboy mountains.
Fast forward a few (ahem) years and enter Colorado:
I already knew that I loved Shadowcliff Mountain Sanctuary from Kathy and my initial scouting visit one year ago. But I forgot how beautiful it was until I returned this August for our High Altitude Inspiration retreat. Even a (now) Colorado girl like me can’t help but be impressed at the picture perfect view from just about every window (no filters on these pictures!)—the gorgeous city/lake of Grand Lake on one side, the majestic mountains leading into Rocky Mountain National Park on the other. Honestly, I don’t think we could have picked a better location for the Wild American West.
(And for those of you who remember the fox sighting in Breckenridge last year, you will be pleased to know that we had both a bear and a moose (with a baby) sighting!)
Of course, location is only one part of a great retreat—the rest is that elusive beast called “group chemistry.” And boy did we have it. With a short retreat (4 days) there was no room to dawdle, and our group coalesced almost immediately like longtime friends reunited. And consider this is true in more ways than one, as many of our relationships had already been started online and only became flesh and blood in Grand Lake—always so significant in this internet age.
Frankly, we loved it so much that we are doing it again August 19-23, 2020.
So…if you’ve always wanted to see the Great American West and do some serious flash fiction writing at the same time, consider joining us next year! We will be limited to 14 participants, so mark your calendar and stay tuned.
Registration opens soon!
(Can’t wait until August? Join us March 21-27, 2020, in Costa Rica. Registration now open)
Open Your Art Flash Fiction Retreats 