Road Trip to Big Sur with Mama Chihuahua!
Photography by Rachel S. Thurston and Karen Custer Thurston

*Although I'm posting this on August 19th, I originally wrote this blog on Wednesday, August 5th 2009
Big Sur, California

Listening to the angelic a cappella songs of a Russian Choir and the crackling, low roar of our fireplace…Mom and I are stretched out in our little cottage along Highway 1….long stalks of sunflowers stretch out beyond our windows beside clumps of lavendar…across the road is the Big Sur River winding its way through the redwoods….

We walked today along vertiginous cliffs amber in the light under a cloudless sky…the air was perfect….the hot breeze moving up the hillside carrying the fragrances of sweet musky sage and the occasional aroma of eucalyptus…a mixture of menthol and dill pickles, unmistakeable and surprisingly pleasant...smells that are uniquely reminiscent of California. We wander along one of the paths in Julia Pfeiffer State Park to one of my favorite waterfalls spilling out onto a crescent-shaped beach where the water laps up at such a perfectly gentle speed you’d think it was created for a Hollywood romance….it’s divine!











At sunset we climb an unearthly looking rock island until the only bit of earth separating us from the expanse of the Pacific is a 200-foot cliff face of golden rock studded with lichen and a blaze of red….the ocean so supple….gently rippling…so benign from here….the sky studded now with clouds stretched thin like cottonballs torn into long, transparent strips…..their underbellies a light pink…the Santa Lucia mountains behind us are turning amber…the chaparral and forests are deeper shade of jade…..and then the moon rises just as the sun sets….a brilliant yellow orb and below it the water shimmers like a luminescent spill of gold paint….a cool wind carrying the scent of salt water and summer sweeps past us….one of the docents shares a few rather lame ghost stories…I think a few of us were hoping for more ghosts stories….so Mom and I share stories of our own on our way down the hill…

The air has been deliciously warm and cool like lakewater that’s been stirred up after a hot day….it’s so relaxing here to be hunkered down in our cabin and to be still…

Tomorrow we head South to San Simeon and go on see the Hearst Castle...

August 16th, 2009
Mother Daughter Shoot with Vickie and Jeannette
Santa Barbara, California

I continue to be blessed in shooting incredible women….this past month I had the opportunity to shoot Victoria, a friend of mine through the Afro-Cali Dance Community (Panzumo), and her lovely and elegant Mamacita Jeannette. I love shooting mothers and daughters because of that incredibly deep bond that connects them through time and space unlike any other….no matter our ages, we remain daughters and mothers, sisters, and ideally, friends. I count myself lucky to be so close to my own mother and I could see that Victoria and her mother have a similarly close friendship. I think that being close to the women we love never fails to bring out our innermost goddess qualities and with that comes our greatest beauty and lights….

Directly below is the slideshow. The pictures have been condensed for the movie but it gives you an idea of the slideshow I created for them both....Just push the "play" button:






I had originally wanted to shoot at sunset along the ocean but the winter sun wasn’t in the right position so we found a garden setting instead that was even more resplendent in the late afternoon light. In the end, the choice was divine….the white and lemon-colored angel trumpet flowers, giant oak tree, and miniature orchids brought out even more of Victoria’s playful spirit and Jeannette's irresistible smile. We had planned on shooting for only an hour or so but, as always, I fell in love with the colors, the light, and their radiance….it was too much fun! The only challenge was getting Victoria’s blind, aging dog Lily to pay attention to the camera and not sulk….I managed to get a few good shots of her before she completely threw a fit and let us all know it was time to call it a day~

We all went home in the early evening euphoric from the shoot…except maybe the dog who was just relieved to be done with the whole ordeal.... ;)







The sweetest sounds to mortals given
Are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven.
~William Goldsmith Brown

August 21st, 2009
Official Launch of Karen Custer Thurston's Middle Eastern Dance Website
Of all the people I've had the opportunity to work with over the past several years, one of my most favorite is my Mother! She's hired me to do her fitness shots and fitness website as well as her dance photos and dance website. We giggle, we tease each other, we obsess, we fixate, and then come to some miraculous resolutions together...

My latest project for her has been one of my proudest. After several months of hard work, we're officially launching her brand spanking new dance website here at: www.turkishegyptiandance.com

I'm so proud of it...I am in love with the dynamic colors, the music, the layout, and the fact that its her first website to host video. I love this site so much that I'm gonna have to go back and revamp my own sites to keep up with the elegance of hers!



If you've never had the opportunity to see her dance, check out some of her videos. One of her latest choreographies was with the dance troupe she leads, Al Rakasaat, titled "Alexandria."
There are also a few other clips of performances she's had in recent years...they barely scratch the surface of all that she's done but should give you a good idea of different styles she draws from. We hope to be updating with more videos over the next couple of years....

Viva El Baile!

“Staycation in Big Sur”

It’s funny how you can live with someone and be together for most hours of the day but not necessarily get quality time together. I think I’ve learned that Steve and I both need little mini getaways every month or so to refresh our connection with each other and get out of our heads and our work.

We both work from home so you’d think we’d have more opportunities for quality time together (which we do at different meals and impromptu parts of the day) but when you work at home, I think there are more challenges to unwinding at home and not having the details of your work invade your brain. We’ve learned how important the value of a little getaway can be, whether it’s a short camping trip or an overnight at a Bed & Breakfast. This past weekend, we met up with some friends for part of the weekend in Big Sus.

I think it was my third trip through there but we had more of a chance to explore a little more deeply. I’m still surprised by how expensive it can be staying there but it is possible to be frugal and camp in the state parks or book far in advance at some of the campgrounds (Fernwood, Big Sur Campground). Check out the Chamber of Commerce's sight on accomodation options.

A Few Cool Things About Big Sur:

~There’s a full moon ghost tour around the lighthouse every month during the peak season. Check out their tour schedules....


~Famed American novelist, eccentric, and Big Sur local Henry Miller once quipped that “Big Sur is as God intended the face of the earth to look.” In danger of sounding overly cliché, I have to say that Big Sur truly is gorgeous during all types of weather. From the dramatic, mystical quality of fog rolling up the cliff faces from the sea to the expansive blue skies and jaw-dropping sunsets on clear days….it’s difficult to go wrong. Pack for all kinds of weather.

~Continuing their tradition of fostering a thriving artistic community, The Henry Miller Library offers Wednesday night open mic nights, outdoor movie nights, and regular music concerts throughout the summer. Check out: www.henrymiller.org

The view at Nementhe is one of my favorites....the food, like most places in Big Sur, is fairly expensive so we opted for a light dinner and ordered some wine and paired it with smoked salmon and bruscetta topped with warm goat cheese and candied pecans. You just can't beat sitting at that overlook watching the moon rise from behind the mountains and passing slowly overhead...



~Big Sur is close to the elephant seals, awesome shopping in Cambria, and the Hearst Castle in the South and Carmel and the Monterrey Aquarium (check out the fiery jellyfish in the sapphire tank and the mating sea otters!).

~Electricity didn’t come to this largely rugged and isolated area until the early 1950s....

~Loads of artists, musicians, and outdoor lovers. Besides Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson have both called Big Sur home at one time.



I'm still getting to know the area bit by bit with every trip and feel that I've only scratched the surface. I was so thrilled with this past trip that I've already booked another trip for later this summer with Mama Chihuahua. Stay tuned....

May 20th, 2009

Women's Adventure Magazine

Rachel En Fuego!
Article in a national magazine dream comes true….

At last, my goal of writing for a national adventure magazine has come true! Just in time for Mother’s Day, I’ve recently had a story about Mama Chihuahua’s and my notoriously soggy, humbling trek on the Routeburn in New Zealand published in Women’s Adventure Magazine. I’ve just received advance copies from the arts editor (Krisan Christensen…thanks, Krisan!). If you’ve never checked the magazine out before, you’re in for a treat! It’s hip, fun, and edgy covering all types of adventures from house-swapping around the world (hopefully involving a house you actually own) to crushes and camping to a Green Action Superhero Comic Strip and interviews of incredible adventure divas. It’s the only travel, sports, and outdoor-related magazine dedicated solely to women. I was also tickled to death that I made the contributors’ page alongside the letter from the editor.

My boyfriend often asks me why I go to the trouble of spending countless hours during and after trips to write my travel blogs and sometimes I ask myself the same question. The first answer that comes to mind is that I just have to! Some unknown and obsessive force drives me to do it. It doesn’t feel like an adventure or a real journey unless I’m able to share it with friends. The second reason is that I love the feedback and dialogue I have with my friends, family, and fellow kindred spirits that is inspired by these blogs.

Lastly, every now and then, I actually get a really cool cosmic return from them like from this one. Just a little after I sent out my trekking blog from the South Island of New Zealand, I received an email from the editor (Michelle Theall, a cool, adventurous woman in her own right who I’ve come to know through the Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference over the years) at Women’s Adventure telling me she thought I should write a cool short story for the mag based on the blog.

So there it is, blogging does pay-off. Not a lot, but every now and then you never know how it may come back to you.

You can pick the June Issue of the magazine up at Border’s, REI, Whole Foods, and Barnes and Noble. You can also order subscriptions directly through the magazine’s website at www.womensadventuremagazine.com
I’ll give you a quick glimpse of the article, “The Amnesia of Adventure: Lest we forget we're in this together:”
Since the mag has first dibs by contract on the story for the next six months, I can’t print the whole thing here quite yet. You’ll have to grab a copy at your local bookstore to read the whole story. Here's an excerpt:

“The Amnesia Of Adventure”

By Rachel S. Thurston
For Women’s Adventure Magazine
Appearing in the June 2009 Issue on pages 46-47.

Why my sixty-two year old Mum and I choose to shoulder forty pound backpacks across mountains in bad weather, lather ourselves in bug spray, subsist for days on dehydrated pasta, and sleep in bunkhouses with snoring, equally smelly strangers baffles me. It’s rare in our many years of travels to come across other mother and daughters, let alone women my mother’s age attempting to trek where we do. There’s probably good reason for this. We suffer from what I refer to as "Trekking Amnesia," in which a year usually passes by and memories of our agony are replaced with blissful nostalgia.

We’ve crossed the world’s highest pass in mid-winter only to have our lunch frozen solid in our chest pockets by noon, battled hypoxia and AMS with copious loads of garlic and diamox, and trekked the rice fields of Vietnam during the beginning of monsoon, yet it’s these experiences which keep us booking our tickets again and again.

This past year we’ve chosen to do the Routeburn Track, one of the Great Walks of New Zealand, an area which we’ve recently learned receives over two-hundred inches of rain a year. As we stop in for our permits, a park ranger informs us that a late spring storm is coming through for the length of our trek. I look over at my mother hoping that she’ll be the one to say, “Let’s just scrap this whole trekking thing and stay in town and eat chocolate.” But she doesn’t and my competitive spirit maintains its silence. ....

To read more, you can check out the Women's Adventure Magazine website (they'll post it when the next issue comes out) in a few months for a digital download or you can buy a copy at your local Borders.

May 19th, 2009
Destination Wine Country Article
"Free-Wheelin: A Romantic Bike Trip Through Santa Ynez Valley"






For the past year or so, I've had the opportunity to write for the Santa Barbara-based Destination Wine Country Magazine. It's been a joy working with the editor, Laura Sanchez, whom I also have known as a friend through my band King Bee, for many years now. I can't tell you what it means as a writer to be able to write stories I'm passionate about and to have such incredible communication with the editor. We've started a tradition of having coffee a few times a year to talk about new story ideas and our own love of travel, Spanish, and literature.

The most recent summer issue (the most gorgeous cover I've seen them have yet!) features an article I wrote about a romantic bike trip through Santa Ynez Valley with my Baby Love. The only downer is that they replaced every reference I made to my "Baby Love" with either "boyfriend" or "Steve." Can you imagine?! ;)

"Steve" and I had great fun doing "research" for this article...research which included several glasses of wine, a very leisurely downhill bike ride, strolling through a lavendar farm, and stuffing ourselves with deli sandwiches and strawberries. After finishing the book The Beautiful Santa Ynez Valley with photographer Chuck Place in 2007, it was pure joy to go up to the Valley just for fun and to write a short piece. By design, Chuck was hired to do the photography for the piece so the four of us (including his wife Ger) made a fun day of it....a lot of it involving Chuck getting in our faces with a big lens telling us to look at each other longingly and to stop drinking all our wine before he had taken his fill of photos.

I'm stoked with how the article came out and pleased once again to have the opportunity to work with a good friend (Chuck), go biking with my Baby Love (Steve), and continue working with a wonderful editor (Laura).

You can check out issues of Destination Wine Country at wineries throughout the Valley and at various bookstores in Santa Barbara.

Just for fun, I'm going to include some of Chuck's photos from the shoot that weren't included in the article. You can check out his gorgeous website at www.placephotography.com

High School Graduation and Mother's Day
Photo Shoot with Ian Miller and his beloved Mama, Brenda Miller

"The best conversations with mothers always take place in silence, when only the heart speaks."
~Carrie Latet

I recently had the honor of photographing a friend's son for his graduation photos, Ventura-based Brenda Miller. Brenda and I envisioned images of Ian which would be classy, timeless, and hip but not traditional, cliche, or cheezy (i.e. those prepackaged backgrounds with the fake swirls in photography studios).

Although I've spent time with Brenda over this past winter and spring, I didn't get the chance to meet Ian until the day of the shoot. He turned out to be a warm, kind, and genuinely mellow lad who slowly opened up about his love of Borat, Zoolander, and Hip Hop. He was shy at first but after the first hour I could see that he began relaxing and trusting me...it was a joy to see multiple sides of him surfacing...from the initial uncomfortable smile to the caught-off-guard laughter to a very relaxed and confident-looking James Dean sultry brood.





It warmed my heart to see Brenda and Ian's interactions throughout the shoot. While I'm close with my own mother, the bond between a mother and son is uniquely different and shooting them both on their own and together really made me excited to do more creative work with mothers and daughters, mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, and fathers and sons. My mother and I were photographed years ago and I still remember it as a magical and euphoric experience during which we celebrated ourselves and our friendship. I would love to do one together with her every five years or so to mark the arch of our lives and our relationship.







After the James Dean/Poetry Man brooding looks (he wasn't posing, it came out completely naturally!) we took a few more before the sun finally fell behind the pepper trees. I hope to shoot them again sometime in the future and am manifesting more work with men and women and their beloved sons and daughers!



In a special ode to my own mother and to Brenda, here is one last parting quote I recently came across about the beauty of motherhood:

"The sweetest sounds to mortals given
Are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven."
~William Goldsmith Brown


Here is the slideshow I created for them both. Once you start playing the slideshow, an "HQ" symbol will appear directly beneath the Youtube icon, make sure to click on it so you can watch the video and photos in High Definition. It will only appear once you've begun watching the video.