Last weekend was wrought with apathy in our house until one of us finally said, “let’s just GET OUT OF HERE!!” I love those words! So we piled into the Yaris and headed for Ashland - you know, beautiful parks, shopping, food! As we’re heading up I-5 towards Hilt I remembered a sight I’d seen some 10 years ago - The Buddhist Temple in the Colestine Valley. It’s called Toshi Choling. Ever heard of it? It is claimed to be the biggest Buddha outside of Asia and was built some 30 years ago by Buddhist lamas from Tibet.
Take the I-5 exit at Hilt and head down into the Colestine Valley. Feel free to stop at the gas station / liquor store and ask for directions (BTW they have great burgers there if you stop around lunch time!) The narrow paved road turns to dirt and the temple is only about 8 miles or so from Hilt. You can’t miss it! It is soooo colorful and the flags line the road to show the entrance! It’s set against the hills to the east and you can even see the semis on I-5 a ways off.
For us this was simply a tourist attraction, not a spiritual journey. We did have an interesting family discussion about idol worship though. But as attractions go this place is really interesting to see. The colors and artwork are truly amazing. The garden has greatly improved over the past 10 years and is green and beautiful right now. The monks are very kind folks and very tolerant of the nerdy Christians visiting their grounds.
You can continue on the upper road as you leave the Toshi Choling and after about 5 miles or so you will end up on the Mt Ashland access road just above the freeway. It’s an easy side trip right off I-5.
Pun time!
me: “Hey look, it’s the Dalai Lama!”
husband: “uhhhggg, that’s bad!!”
kid: “How do you know its name is ‘Dolly’?”
husband and me cracking up!!:)
