Living on The Edge
Living on The Edge
By The Attraction Specialist, Jennifer Large Seagrave
By The Attraction Specialist, Jennifer Large Seagrave
Reprinted from Relationships in the City, July 2007
Last Friday night, my friend Kirsten and I sat silently in darkness, a small fire burning in the pit a few feet from an uncovered sweat lodge surrounded by yucca and sage brush, watching a wispy cloud bank alternately cover and reveal night’s blanket of stars over The Edge Retreat near Fruitland, Utah. Evening had darkened the unnamed valley so filled with green cottonwood and reed grass in the afternoon’s light, and sheer sandstone cliffs riddled with dark creases and crumbling with age still stood silhouetted against the indigo horizon. It was nearly eleven on a moonless night, the call of restless crickets competing with snapping flames.
Crickets are really not an anomaly, but growing up in L.A. and now living in the heart of Salt Lake City, I had forgotten about them. And that seems to be at least a little of what this place is all about: remembering the calm that gets lost in rush hour traffic, supermarket lines and day planners scribbled with to do lists and appointments. The dragonfly-adorned welcome sign outside its entryway reads: “The Edge…you can relax now.” And you really have no choice. If the quiet and beauty of the place doesn’t demand it, the hot tub does.
After a lovely two-hour drive past mountains, meadows and reservoirs and animated by an Amanda Quick romance-on-tape, Kirsten and I arrived about an hour before sunset. We let ourselves into the huge retreat kitchen, where guests store their own food and prepare meals. Gleaned from a friend’s remodel, the rose granite countertops and Sub-Zero refrigerator found their way to The Edge as if by fate, the way all things seem to come home here.
When we talked with owners Suzanne Sullivan and Chris Lang later, while sipping wine on a sun drenched veranda, Suzanne admitted, “I came out here in a Lexus and high heels. When I got here, it was as much a mess as I was, all sage brush and dirt…a little ghost house, sitting up here on the edge of a cliff.” Taking a huge leap of faith and leaving her posh Wilshire condo downtown, Suzanne moved up to the quirky old house in need of a huge amount of work…both her and the house! “I was so messed up, I thought I could do it.” And, little by little, money found its way to the retreat’s coffer, craftsmen found their way to building a bunk house, bath house and guest rooms, and many visitors found peace and solace in its hospitality.
After greeting us, Suzanne showed us around her little piece of paradise. From the architecture to the arrangement of buildings, the place seems to invite a sort of communal unity in both obvious and subtle ways. While the welcome gong in the meeting room lets out a low, pervading call to congregate, the bunkhouses’ two ten-bunk rooms hold workers, friends and retreat mates together in undeniably close quarters.
The Star and Moon Houses hold bedrooms of rustic beauty, but no bathrooms, calling for communal use of the bathhouse. If this sounds like a hardship, think again. This bathhouse holds every comfort and amenity a group could ask for including three shower rooms with pine-lined showers, three water closets and four porcelain pedestal sinks. It is a hexagonal work of architectural mastery, with all the modern luxuries and conveniences.
We stayed in the Sunrise Room, one of two modern guest rooms above the bathhouse, boasting full east-facing windows that certainly did let in the morning light, thankfully delayed a little by high valley walls. After our soak in the hot tub and fire under the stars, Kirsten made use of the deep bath in the Sunset room on the west side of the house while I tried out the showers downstairs. I’ve never used a shower with a head mounted seven feet up; water fell on my hair as if from the sky.
The beauty of The Edge Retreat is hard to describe. I’m not entirely certain the flowers and wood, houses and views comprise it. The humming birds are part of it, and Suzanne herself, who leads a Course in Miracles women’s retreat four times a year together with her teaching partner Sue Borg. But there is also an undeniable, lingering je ne sais quoi about the property that commands peace and completes its beauty. It’s an ethereal magic that hangs about the place, and brings out the part of you that recognizes it. “When I came here I focused on healing my own life,” Suzanne says. “This is all a manifestation. The retreat is within.”
And now she is ready to move on down the road, literally. Looking for the appropriate buyer for the womb in which her life changed and developed, Suzanne plans to move into a smaller cabin a couple of miles away. She hopes The Edge will remain a retreat for those seeking peace and closer relationships with one another. I left there feeling closer to the inner calm I had just about forgotten I had.
You can find out more about The Edge Retreat and its events and amenities on their website at http://www.theedgeretreat.com/.
The Edge Retreat
Email: info@theedgeretreat.comDirect: 435.548.2479Fruitland, Utah
Jennifer currently writes the monthly Attraction Specialist and Wine and Cheese Review articles for Relationships in the City, while pursuing a doctorate in literature. She teaches writing and literature at the University of Utah and University of Phoenix. With ten years of experience in the gourmet food industry and forays into a multitude of religions, her experiences have led her to become a connoisseur of both inner and outer attractions.
Last Friday night, my friend Kirsten and I sat silently in darkness, a small fire burning in the pit a few feet from an uncovered sweat lodge surrounded by yucca and sage brush, watching a wispy cloud bank alternately cover and reveal night’s blanket of stars over The Edge Retreat near Fruitland, Utah. Evening had darkened the unnamed valley so filled with green cottonwood and reed grass in the afternoon’s light, and sheer sandstone cliffs riddled with dark creases and crumbling with age still stood silhouetted against the indigo horizon. It was nearly eleven on a moonless night, the call of restless crickets competing with snapping flames.
Crickets are really not an anomaly, but growing up in L.A. and now living in the heart of Salt Lake City, I had forgotten about them. And that seems to be at least a little of what this place is all about: remembering the calm that gets lost in rush hour traffic, supermarket lines and day planners scribbled with to do lists and appointments. The dragonfly-adorned welcome sign outside its entryway reads: “The Edge…you can relax now.” And you really have no choice. If the quiet and beauty of the place doesn’t demand it, the hot tub does.
After a lovely two-hour drive past mountains, meadows and reservoirs and animated by an Amanda Quick romance-on-tape, Kirsten and I arrived about an hour before sunset. We let ourselves into the huge retreat kitchen, where guests store their own food and prepare meals. Gleaned from a friend’s remodel, the rose granite countertops and Sub-Zero refrigerator found their way to The Edge as if by fate, the way all things seem to come home here.
When we talked with owners Suzanne Sullivan and Chris Lang later, while sipping wine on a sun drenched veranda, Suzanne admitted, “I came out here in a Lexus and high heels. When I got here, it was as much a mess as I was, all sage brush and dirt…a little ghost house, sitting up here on the edge of a cliff.” Taking a huge leap of faith and leaving her posh Wilshire condo downtown, Suzanne moved up to the quirky old house in need of a huge amount of work…both her and the house! “I was so messed up, I thought I could do it.” And, little by little, money found its way to the retreat’s coffer, craftsmen found their way to building a bunk house, bath house and guest rooms, and many visitors found peace and solace in its hospitality.
After greeting us, Suzanne showed us around her little piece of paradise. From the architecture to the arrangement of buildings, the place seems to invite a sort of communal unity in both obvious and subtle ways. While the welcome gong in the meeting room lets out a low, pervading call to congregate, the bunkhouses’ two ten-bunk rooms hold workers, friends and retreat mates together in undeniably close quarters.
The Star and Moon Houses hold bedrooms of rustic beauty, but no bathrooms, calling for communal use of the bathhouse. If this sounds like a hardship, think again. This bathhouse holds every comfort and amenity a group could ask for including three shower rooms with pine-lined showers, three water closets and four porcelain pedestal sinks. It is a hexagonal work of architectural mastery, with all the modern luxuries and conveniences.
We stayed in the Sunrise Room, one of two modern guest rooms above the bathhouse, boasting full east-facing windows that certainly did let in the morning light, thankfully delayed a little by high valley walls. After our soak in the hot tub and fire under the stars, Kirsten made use of the deep bath in the Sunset room on the west side of the house while I tried out the showers downstairs. I’ve never used a shower with a head mounted seven feet up; water fell on my hair as if from the sky.
The beauty of The Edge Retreat is hard to describe. I’m not entirely certain the flowers and wood, houses and views comprise it. The humming birds are part of it, and Suzanne herself, who leads a Course in Miracles women’s retreat four times a year together with her teaching partner Sue Borg. But there is also an undeniable, lingering je ne sais quoi about the property that commands peace and completes its beauty. It’s an ethereal magic that hangs about the place, and brings out the part of you that recognizes it. “When I came here I focused on healing my own life,” Suzanne says. “This is all a manifestation. The retreat is within.”
And now she is ready to move on down the road, literally. Looking for the appropriate buyer for the womb in which her life changed and developed, Suzanne plans to move into a smaller cabin a couple of miles away. She hopes The Edge will remain a retreat for those seeking peace and closer relationships with one another. I left there feeling closer to the inner calm I had just about forgotten I had.
You can find out more about The Edge Retreat and its events and amenities on their website at http://www.theedgeretreat.com/.
The Edge Retreat
Email: info@theedgeretreat.comDirect: 435.548.2479Fruitland, Utah
Jennifer currently writes the monthly Attraction Specialist and Wine and Cheese Review articles for Relationships in the City, while pursuing a doctorate in literature. She teaches writing and literature at the University of Utah and University of Phoenix. With ten years of experience in the gourmet food industry and forays into a multitude of religions, her experiences have led her to become a connoisseur of both inner and outer attractions.
posted by Jennifer Large Seagrave at 2:18 AM
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