More on our monastery travels soon ... we made it to two in North Dakota before the snows came and we have photos and stories to share (once we learn how to post photos!) But at the moment we're enjoying a unique kind of retreat. In November we got a letter telling us we'd been nominated to spend a month at an artist's retreat on The Gulf of Mexico. February in Florida sounded excellent, so sight unseen we accepted. Quite a delight to arrive in a tropical paradise on the edge of the sea, with 4 weeks to work on whatever [View Full Entry]

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Each monastery and retreat has its own personality. When people ask us our favorites, we always say "The last one we visited," because the spirit of each of these places is so welcoming and vibrant. But The Immaculate Heart Community and La Casa de Maria in Santa Barbara has some added perks ... a lovely swimming pool and tennis courts. As U.S. News & World Report said in its 12/26/06 edition .... if peacefulness is "not enough, there's always a swimming pool." [View Full Entry]

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Retreat and Conference Center Offers Hospitality and Peacefulness Some years ago friends insisted we stop at the San Ysidro Inn, a fancy resort in the Montecito section of Santa Barbara. It was beautiful, and expensive. Quite a surprise when we began our reserach for "Sanctuaries" and visited the Immaculate Heart Community and their La Casa de Maria retreat and conference center to discover that the retreat property adjoined the resort property. But, instead of paying hundreds of dollars and getting lots of luxury, we were paying a fraction of the price and getting lots of pea [View Full Entry]

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We were lucky this time, and a room opened up beyond the one expected night, so we stayed for four days. Awoke the first morning at dawn, and the golden light hit the hills framed in our window for just a moment. [View Full Entry]

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Monasteries - New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur Stopped for a night at the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, one of the most dramatic of the 250 monasteries we visited for our book "Sanctuaries: A Guide to Lodgings in Monasteries, Abbeys and Retreats of the U.S." We were met with this new sign, which set the tone for our stay ... everyone moves slowly and with deliberation in this clifftop monastery, perhaps in awe of what they see. Marcia & Jack Kelly Sanctuaries - A Guide to Monastaries & Retreats in [View Full Entry]

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