Marshmallows, paddle boats, river rafting and feeding Buttercup, the eight week old baby goat. Yes, that’s how Corbin and I were fortunate enough to kick off the summer on a four-day adventure up in the Mt. Shasta region of Northern California with my Dad. On the drive up, we stopped to check out the new Gaia Anderson Hotel, the second of what creator Mr.Wen Chang is intending to be a chain of green hotels. Though nothing too fancy, just off Interstate 5 in Redding, it was refreshing to find a saline pool, organic EO products, and a host of other environmentally friendly touches in a roadside stopover and gives me hope for a day when all such establishments have “gone green.”

It was also quite inspiring to watch Corbin on our friend Glen’s farm. He and our host’s daughter, Montana, spent the morning tending to the baby goats and then collected eggs from their chickens which we ate with freshly made chèvre just an hour later. When I think of sustainability, these are some of the visions I aspire to. Eating local (as in off your own farm!), off the grid, and in a gorgeous setting with mountain peaks all around and water flowing nearby. It was an adjustment to come home though I keep in mind that just as we hiked up Mt. Shasta one step at a time (well, actually just to the Sierra Club’s Horse Camp, elevation 7,950′ which was plenty for Corbin’s 6-year old legs), so too do we move toward a sustainable future one step at a time. We all just need to do it together