March 2019
What brought you to Crestone?
Domé Moon
It was fate, without a doubt. The first time we visited, I was looking for hardware for my paintings. We were living near Bonanza and found Mercantile Hardware on Google. Then we went to North Crestone campground and creek, and it was the most magical place I've ever been. It felt like being in an enchanted fairytale. Sometimes we’d go hiking there because it felt so magical. Then our rental house sold. Crestone was where we really wanted to be. We were coming here trying to find a place, posting on Facebook, talking to everyone, but it seemed impossible. One day, we were putting up posters but feeling like it was going to happen. We found a trail and decided to enjoy the day and be grateful we're here now. At the top of the trail was this huge goddess statue and it felt meant to be. I gave it an offering, not something I'd done before. All’s I had was this artistic keychain made by my friend, which was hard to part with. I offered it, saying a prayer of surrender: Whether I end up here or anywhere else, I just trust life is intelligent and I'll be taken where I need to be, and wherever I am, it will be perfect for me. I let go of expectations/neediness, trusting wherever we end up will be perfect. With nothing lined up, we put all our things in storage in Crestone, because it’s where I wanted to be, then went on this huge road trip, unsuccessfully looking for other small mountain towns we’d like. A month later, driving back from California, realizing how Colorado felt like home, Michelle posted on Crestone Facebook groups again ISO of a home. Having three dogs made it extra impossible, but a few minutes later, someone responded, sent us pictures, and it was so perfect and in our price range! That same day, we drove here to look at it and we're like, "We're taking it!" The next morning I drove to Breckenridge to withdrawal cash, put down the deposit, and the rest is history!
Two years later, we were able to purchase our dream home. Before we first looked at it, I asked for a sign. When we arrived, a hawk hit a window, landed right in front of us, looked at us for a few moments, and I go, "Oh my God, this is our sign!" Michelle said, "I thought that was a bad omen!" And I was like, "But he didn't die! He was OK!" (laughing)
I'm just so grateful to be here. It's a dream come true. I feel so inspired. Since I've been here, I'm remembering who I'm meant to be and who I was. It really feels like home, and I've never felt at home anywhere. (Please visit my website at www.domefineart.com)
Michael Agape
Many years ago I had a dream of a flat mountain. I had no idea it was Challenger, but I started traveling the country looking for it. So, this kind of sounds like the Close Encounters of the Third Kind where Richard Dreyfus’ character was having visions of Devil's Tower, started making it out of mashed potatoes, and obsessing. I had a version of that in my life. And I've heard other people actually had that happen in Crestone, too. So, I was seeing this flat mountain and ended up in Anchorage, Alaska, because there's a mountain above the city called Flattop, but it wasn't the place. I didn't feel like it was home. I stayed for seven years, but it didn't feel like home. So I quit looking. Three years ago, Colorado started popping on my radar every day; synchronicities. I had been following Spirit for a few years. I left the world, quit working and kind of did my own thing, looking for myself. That journey: trying to find my ass when it was right there with me! One day I had a vision about Colorado I couldn't ignore, that flat mountain again. I hadn't seen it for years. I looked online, but couldn't find a flat mountain in Colorado; didn't know where to look. Gave up again. As soon as I did, I had this "knowing" and I woke up and heard the word “Cry-stone.” I called a friend and asked, "You ever heard of a Cry-stone, Colorado?" She goes, "Crestone, Colorado. Yeah that's a really neat place; it has a spiritual community, etc." So I looked it up, and when I saw Challenger Mountain online, I was like, that's the place! I came here to check it out and it was like fate brought me here. I instantly met a family I was seeking. I was looking for a spiritual family. Within a week, I had a network of friends and peers I’d not had in my life. So, Crestone kind of called me in, in a nutshell! Since being here, I've been carving out an existence, but as for what brought me here: the mountain. I don't know if this will be where I’ll live the rest of my life, but it is home for now. I was called here to heal and I've experienced incredible healing – so much so, I'm actually in touch with my family I haven't seen in 18 years!
Melinda “Sista Love” Davis
When my husband and I were deciding to move to Colorado, one of my stipulations was I wanted to live where there were pinyons. He kind of laughed about it. He told me I had never lived that high before and could I do that? So, he was touring with the Jah Kings, and they were here in Crestone doing a show and he called me to tell me that he had found the place that we wanted to live. Jah Kings and our family moved out here and now this has become home. So, the trees brought me here and I'm very grateful because I feel very rooted in this community now.
Estela de Colores
I started visiting Crestone in 2004 during a strong transition in my life. Until then I had been an actress and dancer, but an accident on the stage forced me to quit my profession and left me in a state of chronic pain. After trying all kinds of modern occidental medicine and therapies without lasting results, I started exploring traditional healing ways and was invited to come here to be part of native ceremonies.
It was a serene place and I fell in love with the silence around. Before, I had always lived in the city. Being here in daily contact with nature changed it all. To step outside the house and find deer, elk, bears, coyotes, owls, magpies, etc., is such a privilege. The plants, the snow, the creeks flowing or the drought become a source of understanding. The dark sky full of stars, the sun, the clouds, the wind, the trees, the stones, and the sand, become a source of inspiration.
Now I paint and write, between light and dark; pain, survival and resilience are common marks to every day re-start.
So… What brought me here? Life.
Joshua Hillman
I was brought to Crestone by a woman. I didn't know where this place was on a map! I started dating her in Chicago a month before she moved here. And after she moved here, I came to check out the place. I found that she wasn't living in a teepee and she had running water and people had satellite TV and I packed up my truck and was here a few months later! That was in 1997. We lived here in this house together for 6 1/2 years, then she took ill and had to go where there was real medical. And I've been here ever since. Same house. It's all a big fluke! (laughing) Not an accident, though. Clearly.
I've been the Crestone Town Manager, POA Controller, president of various boards, and involved in various things; and I would have to say this place has kept me here. I get itchy and think about leaving, but haven't been invited to be anywhere else. The other thing of note is: I had lived in a different place every year for 16+ years prior to this, and I've been in this house for 21 years. And there's no accounting for that at ALL in my values or my tastes or my experience up to that point. So I figure there's a power greater than myself hard at work deciding for me what's best because none of this is what I would have imagined was best for me, had you asked me those many years ago.