Guide

We like to travel to primitive places, explore rain forests, get lost in the redwoods, snorkel along fantastic reefs in Fiji and Australia, body surf on big waves in Hawaii, go sailing each year in Costa Rica, and watch the sunset on tropical islands.

We're into roughing it a little for a yearly camping trip at Yosemite Valley, but we also enjoy occasional pampering. We are always on the track for exotic spas, yoga retreats, and secluded villas surrounded by fragrant lilac, gardenia or mimosa. We don't go in for the fancy hotel extravaganzas or the crowded tourist spots, but look for hide-a-ways that are less expensive and maybe even more special.

We are also always on the lookout for interesting bath and body products, exotic fragrances or better sources for essential oils. Everyone likes to bring back something from their travels to remind them of how they felt on their vacations. We bring back fragrant Smells & Memories* and exotic flowers and herbs when possible.

If you have any places you especially like, please contact us. We will check them out and add them to this site. For your gracious contributions we will send you some free products. Here are some of our favorite places and who to contact if you want to getaway for a sensual adventure.

Northern California

I live in California in the pine and oak filled Cobb Mountain area, and have just enough land so I can't see my neighbors. There I have our perfume lab, and grow organic French lavender (Lavandula angustiflia) that I distill myself. But my favorite retreat in California is the coastal redwoods.

I live less than an hour from the Napa-Sonoma wine country, home to several world-class restaurants. If you love fine French cuisine, you must try:

• The French Laundry
• La Toque
• Bistro Jaunty
• Oregon

I especially enjoy Patrick's Point in Northern California because it's right on the ocean. There is a lovely scenic drive that always ends up to be a 2-4 hour adventure because I am always compelled to get out of the car, hike among the lush ferns and hug a giant redwood. The scent of redwood combined with ocean breeze is utterly intoxicating.

My favorite motel is the Trinidad Inn, which is dog friendly. Be careful about walking your dog on the trails. If you and your dog are caught, you will be asked to leave on your first offense. On the second (and third, and fourth -- I'm a slow learner) the fine is $50. I've also learned the Rangers seldom patrol after their dinner. There are a few trails you can 'legally' walk your dog on and you can let them loose on most of the beaches.

Less than a mile from the inn is the Larapin Restaurant, which serves delicious French cuisine and has a fair wine selection. If you go for the 20-minute drive to Arcata don't miss some of the best sushi and sake you'll ever have at Tomo Japanese Restaurant. And if you like the freshest crab and local fish then not to be missed (I end up there almost every time I'm in Trinidad) is Cap’n Zack's, a family-owned eatery, the fresh-caught seafood supplied by the captain’s fishing boat “The Slimy Slug”. In nearby Arcata is Jambalaya, serving acceptable Californian cuisine, and Folie Douce, contemporary French dining.

Tanzania

The native African people of Tanzania have traditionally used the Vernonia amygdalina bush to prevent intestinal parasites and help with other gastrointestinal disorders. Scientists have discovered that Tanzania's chimpanzees eat the same bush for the same purposes. Researchers have identified more than a dozen other plants used by chimps and other ape species and testing them for human pharmacological benefits. Animal's species have long ago discovered, in nature's medicine cabinet, local remedies for whatever ails them. Reading this was enough to get me interested in visiting other Eco lodges in tropical forests.

Fiji

I lived in Fiji for eight years, on a remote privately owned island. I've gone back since then as a tourist. One of my favorite adventures is to get the locals to take me out night diving. It's a whole different world when you can only see what your flashlight illuminates. The aquatic non-human let you get closer at night. I free dive (no tank) so I'm limited to the reefs but I've been towed along by tortoises, grasped the outside tips of 200 pound sting rays (you have to avoid their barbed tale), touched nurse and tiger sharks and got bumped about by bluebottle porpoises.

We have a candle factory and patchouli distillery in Indonesia, so once a year I slip away to Jarkata and Bali, where you can find some of the most beautiful and affordable spas in the world.

Hawaii

When I was working in the Philippines I kept a house on Kauai, Hawaii, which is called the garden Island. It has one of the most beautiful botanical gardens I have ever seen. It is the first and last place I always visit every time I'm there.

Local bed and breakfast places are a good economical way to see the Island especially if your plan your stay there. Because I'll bet that all you'll be doing is going there at night to crash. Their owners will help you pick out the best restaurants and whose hot at the hotel. The snorkeling is below average but if I do need to get out in the water I go to Poipu very early in the morning before the tourists come out.

Aromatic Distillations

For a real treat if only one time in your life you have to visit these aromatic destinations: India, France and Bulgaria.

Alchemy & Distillation of Your Precious Oils

In some sense basic chemistry is the basis of distillation and all distillation techniques, but even those originate from ancient alchemical principles. This art is considered one of the magical arts.

There is something that drives these men and women to produce the highest quality essential oils. It is more than just the pursuit of money. It is a labor of love.

The farmers make arrangements with three neighboring farms to grow crops that they can harvest and distill closely after one another. They intend to produce oils and collect the hydrosols from these plants during the fall harvest.

One of our farmer-distillers considers his methods of producing essential oils to be part of the sacred culture that he grew up in. He is proud to report that he still does everything according to the natural methods his father taught him, and were passed on by his grandfather. He says that the most important element is something that can't just be taught—you have to be born with a nose that knows when to stop.

One of our distillers insists on using a copper distiller and always points out the importance of having the tubing make a 3 complete circles as it runs through the water. Another has his whole family offer a puja, a Hindu prayer and ceremony before beginning each distillation, and yet another is always quoting from the bible. Does all this make for a better quality oil? Certainly they believe so and I've never had a bad batch from any of them that was not excellent and if not perfectly distilled.

Like farming, a lot of the most important things are done by hand (and nose) so that a great product is created.

When harvesting the raw plant materials from which the essential oils are extracted, timing is critical. I attended a harvest of damask rose in Bulgaria and asked to be in the field as soon as they started. Little did I know they only harvested between 4:30 and 9:30 A.M. and it would take me an hour to hike into the foothills of the Balkan Mountains. Apparently, later in the morning when there is no fresh dew left on the rose petals the yield can be reduced to half.

We only buy from operations that we have inspected their equipment. Many crops from third world countries are distilled right in the field using the most primitive methods and equipment. We have seen field worked use rusty 55-gallon drums that darkened the oil and the kerosene heat that mixed with the raw materials. It was a great crop, but he was in our opinion, making it unfit to be called organic.

Some distillers don't consider the purity of the water as an important ingredient when making an essential oil. This is significant, because they are steam distilled and that water can come from any source. Herbs extracted with water may have a little herbal content compared to the amount of water used, but the entire water-herbal mixture counts as organic provided the herbs were grown organically. We watched one distiller draw his water from a local river. We followed the river up stream and besides seeing water buffalo and domestic cattle use it, a few local villages that used it as their sewer there was a large palm plantation that dumped all their effluent into the river. Obviously we refused the oil until we could get him to agree to find a cleaner source of water.

I guess if I was to summarize what we have discovered in working with the families that produce the highest quality oils, is that they all approach their work with:

• A nose for it.
• A willingness to maintain the highest standards.
• Constant attention to every single detail. (Most of them insist that someone has to be awake during every moment of the distillation.)
• Patience. They are never willing to hurry the process.

For many of them this careful and complete attention is a way of living a sacred and traditional life.