Mother's Nature Journal: Summit to Sea marks the begining of summer.

It wasn't until we were coming up on Three Fingered Jack that I realized just how much a summit-to-sea trip is the perfect, natural transition from the structure of a homeschool year into free-range summer.  I thought of all the folktales that incorporate a quest to the summit for new understanding.  For us this past school year echoes with motifs from The Crescent Moon Bear.  We've learned how to say thank you, graciously, for our struggles.  As Highway 20 carved through the Cascades I reviewed the ups and downs of a year dedicated to understanding how my children learn.  "Arigato zaisho" I thought in my mind as I pulled over under the trees for the fourth time allowing Baanko to rest and avoid motion sickness.  Without a doubt the best teacher we had this year was not a person but rather Baanko's very own stomach.

Mile, after slowly unwinding mile the river snaked beneath us as snow caps and lupine greened up into forests of foxgloves and daisies.   Signs for the historic Santiam Pass were rhythmically reminding us, "Over the river and through the woods" while I filled in the rest -  "to mother ocean we go."  In our unhurried descent I heard all the promises that summer whispers to children.  Ferns, Queen Anne's Lace, gravel paved paths leading into the state park...all foretell of a stolen, treasured, season of truly going wild.

By the time the air brined up and we greeted the coast I was ready to accept the invitation.  Like loose leaf paper free falling from unbound rings I let months of planning, appointments, and agendas drop away.  Although homeschool forced us all to new heights this year (and lows) we passed.  And the ocean was Baanko's celebration of choice: