Usually after the last show in Pomona, we come home and rest, but instead we drove to the Grand Canyon for 2 days of hiking and picture taking and then went to Scottsdale, Arizona for Tony Robbin's "Date With Destiny" seminar... 6 Days and Nights (usually 8AM to Midnight) of high energy, high intensity, high emotion work that was really great and really empowering. We were yelling, dancing, jumping around, high-fiving, hugging, being introspective, getting in touch with our inner guides and emotionally implanting what we were learning. It was an awesome seminar! As Tony says, "Life will never be the same!".

After the seminar, we rested for a day in Scottsdale, sleeping late and relaxing. We then drove all day to Las Vegas passing by Hoover Dam around sunset for Celine Dion's next to the last show in Las Vegas! It was very great, she is such an intense, emotional singer. (She is the singer who sang the theme song from the movie, "Titanic", in case you don't know.)

The next morning, we were going to drive straight back via the interstate highways in one long 10 hour driving day, but instead decided to drive up the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains, in two days. We drove across Death Valley, (100 feet below sea level) very stark, but beautiful, contrasting colors and beautiful rock formations. It was freezing, 44 degrees! Not what we expected there, we were thinking, winter in Death Valley, maybe 70 degrees, after all it's 120 degrees in the summer. Two hours later, we passed by Mt. Whitney (15,000 feet above sea level) silhouetted against the pink and golden sunset. We drove a little further and stopped in Mammoth Lakes for the night in a brand spanking new Westin with those "Heavenly Beds". Were we ready for some rest!

By the time we had arrived in Mammoth Lakes, we realized that we had caught something very bad at the seminar. We were both feverish and exhausted, but we carried our own luggage in. I didn't want the bellman to catch what we had, I knew already that it was going to be fierce. That night, I had to use ice packs to cool myself down to 102 degrees! The next morning we dragged out of bed and hit the road. So here we were, both very ill, driving through some exquisitely beautiful country. So naturally we felt compelled to get out to sight see. Only problem is it was windy, 40 degree weather, snow and ice on the ground, 4000 to 7500 feet above sea level (less oxygen), and very, very dry air. But did that stop us? Noooo... We were determined to enjoy the trip…and not very smart!

We left Mammoth Lakes the next morning and stopped by Mono Lake. I shouldn't have done this, given my condition, but we walked about 1/2 mile across a snow trail to reach the lake and to stand on the edge of it and take photos. It was truly awe inspiring… the solitude, the azure water pierced by the famed Tufa towers, and all the surrounding meadows and mountains covered in fresh hoarfrost, wind whipping up clods of snow on the distant peaks. I have seen photos of it for years and always had wanted to go there, so it was well worth it in spite of the way we felt. At least that was what I was thinking at the time... foolish me.

We got back on the road and drove past Lake Tahoe at sunset and got home that night. More ice packs and cold compresses to keep my temperature under 102 degrees again.

The next day we got an email from one of the people in our group of about 30 people (there were over 2500 people from 32 countries at the seminar) and she said she had come down with walking Pneumonia and had received intravenous and pill antibiotics. I went to the doctor and he said that's what we had, too. We took anti-biotics (pills only) and lots of pro-biotics to replace the lost good flora and finally, over two weeks later, we are feeling much better.

The good thing was when we got home, we couldn't really go out, too feverish and weak. We got very tired if we tried do too much, physically, so we rested and reviewed our notes from the seminar and remembered and re-implanted a lot of what we learned. It was definitely the best seminar, ever. Being too tired to do anything, we were also able to read and apply the material from the seminar.

One of the things we learned at the seminar was to view problems as gifts that help us grow. And to welcome big problems; they help us grow faster. (If they don't kill us… just kidding) We had a direct experience of that!

The whole month was a grand adventure! The fabulous last show in Pomona, seeing all our wonderful customers and having our best Harvest Festival ever. The two days hiking at the Grand Canyon were awesome. Our room was right on the rim of the canyon. We had booked a regular room in advance, but when we arrived, we asked, "Do you have a room with a view available?" The clerk said, "We have one room, with a deck overlooking the canyon, it's the exact same room as the Presidential Suite." "We'll take it!" So, we were able to get out of bed at sunrise, go out on our private deck and watch the changing colors as the sun spilled into the depths of the canyon… all the while in our pajamas! We couldn't have imagined it any better!

The first day was sunny, the next day was partly cloudy. Each day presented a different and very striking view of the Grand Canyon. On the partly cloudy day, we could actually see more details that the bright sun had washed out.

And we timed it perfectly, leaving just after sunset, so we got to see two sunrises and two sunsets in the Grand Canyon. We took some awesome photos. We left, driving toward a flaming post sunset sky and toward our next adventure in Scottsdale.

The "Date With Destiny" seminar was held at the JW Marriott resort. Everything was AAAA. The rooms, the restaurants, the lanscaping, the staff and in the lobby there was a 10 foot by 10 foot Gingerbread city with a Choo Choo Train running through it. Merry Christmas!

Kathryn and I have attended a lot of seminars over the years. This was our favorite, so far. We learned and experienced so much. We got to experience at a very deep level who we have been and to understand why we have been that. Then, we got to recreate who we want to be and we did exercises to get rid of the old beliefs and values and replace them with new more empowering ones. And we got to see the transformation of some of the people we met, it was very moving. We also learned and experienced "PASSION" at a level that we never fully understood, before. So, it was especially great to see Celine Dion perform in Las Vegas, right after the seminar. I was much more impressed with the commitment, the drive and the passion she brings to her performance. She lives, playing full out, nothing half way.

And in spite of the illness, we fully enjoyed our decision to drive up the East side of the Sierras, taking the longer, more scenic route we had never taken before, in the spirit of enjoying and living fully in the moment.

And after returning home, we are still excited about what we discovered, we are still reviewing the material from the seminar and we are still talking about how we will use what we experienced to make 2008 our best year ever!

Harry
PS You can see some photos at www.harrymason.smugmug.com