GOLF AND LABYRINTH

At lunch we met a nice young man and his two young sons and surprisingly, his parents live only about 30 miles from us in Grass Valley. Had we not engaged him in conversation, we would not have known where to go at Bandon Dunes Golf course to get the best view. We could not see the ocean that day but it is over the hill at the top of this photo.

Bandon Dunes began in 1999 and was designed by Scotsman David McLay Kidd. The course is perched on a bluff high about the Pacific Ocean and is completely natural and routed through an indigenous environment. No carts...4 courses...the game of golf in its truest form.

The young man we met drew us a map and told us to try and see the labyrinth. We drove around and around and finally got out and asked someone for help in finding it. It was very well hidden in the forest and if we had not asked for directions, we never would have found it. These cottages are on the edge of the forest and a path leads to the labyrinth.

We followed the sign that pointed the way

past a lily pond

and came upon these rocks in the middle of the forest.

There, in the middle of a clearing, we found the labyrinth and walked it. The sign said this about the labyrinth:

THE LABYRINTH IS A METAPHOR FOR OUR JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE. ITS PATH LEADS TOWARD AN INNER LIGHT, TO THE CENTER OF OUR SELF AND THE CENTER OF THE SACRED; ONE AND THE SAME. ITS DIRECTION, AT TIMES, IS CONFUSING, TAKING US AROUND, AND THEN BACK AGAIN. YET, IT IS THROUGH THIS CIRCULAR JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY AND GROWTH THAT WE RECONNECT TO WHERE WE ONCE BEGAN.

This labyrinth is in memory of Howard McKee, whose own journey through the labyrinth contributed to the vision and experience that is Bandon Dunes. This is a replica of the labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral, France Dated 1194-1220

Here you see Uncle Joel, Auntie April, Mae and cousin Natalie.

Natalie and her Mommy with Kahlua bundled up in her coat.

We headed back to camp and had one more day left on our trip. Tomorrow: the lighthouse.