I'm in paradise today. Most people think of paradise as a tropical beach. Feeling the sand in your toes, smell of salt in the air, palm trees swaying in the breeze. Not me.
For me paradise is in the wild. Birch trees swaying in the breeze. Watching the leaves fall to the ground in a slow descent, covering the earth like newly fallen snow. The view of snow capped mountains. The sound of sandhill cranes as the fly overhead. A musky scent in the air as the season prepares to change from fall to winter.
Today I am sitting in my friend's lodge on the Turnagain Arm. I can see the inlet as the water slowly empties back towards the sea. In a few hours the water will come back in with a single wave that will fill the inlet here. If it was a slight bit warmer the surfers would don their dry suits and head into the inlet in an attempt to ride the boretide. It's an amazing site.
Earlier I stopped by Potter's Marsh and took pictures of the Trumpeter Swans. They are the largest birds in North America. You'd expect them to be clumsy and awkward and yet they move with amazing grace. White like most swans but their beaks are black. Ducks break up in pairs and ride alongside the swans. The swans stop every few feet. They dip their heads completely underwater looking for a bite to eat. Smaller swans end tail up searching for food. The Trumpeter swan is so large that its body remains flat on the water in its search for food. In a week or two the swans will move on in search of warmer weather.
Earlier in the year a stop at the marsh provided an opportunity to view salmon, both reds and silvers, spawning as they neared the end of their lives. In the spring, the eggs will hatch and young salmon will head out to sea. Those same little ones will find their way back to the marsh at the end of their lives to spawn. The circle of life, beginning to end, plays out in the marsh each year.
For now I am back at the lodge, sitting in the warmth of the living room rather than the 47° deck outside. As I type this I look up constantly to watch the clouds amble by. Later I will chance a bear encounter as I pick apples. The dog is kenneled and not there to warn me if a bear is in the area, but the area I will pick from is surrounded by an electric fence so I know I'll be safe.
As you look over this land you realize you are a step closer to God. I love the view out of my own window at home. However, it doesn't even begin to measure up to the beauty seen from the Turnagain View Lodge.
For me paradise is in the wild. Birch trees swaying in the breeze. Watching the leaves fall to the ground in a slow descent, covering the earth like newly fallen snow. The view of snow capped mountains. The sound of sandhill cranes as the fly overhead. A musky scent in the air as the season prepares to change from fall to winter.
Today I am sitting in my friend's lodge on the Turnagain Arm. I can see the inlet as the water slowly empties back towards the sea. In a few hours the water will come back in with a single wave that will fill the inlet here. If it was a slight bit warmer the surfers would don their dry suits and head into the inlet in an attempt to ride the boretide. It's an amazing site.
Earlier I stopped by Potter's Marsh and took pictures of the Trumpeter Swans. They are the largest birds in North America. You'd expect them to be clumsy and awkward and yet they move with amazing grace. White like most swans but their beaks are black. Ducks break up in pairs and ride alongside the swans. The swans stop every few feet. They dip their heads completely underwater looking for a bite to eat. Smaller swans end tail up searching for food. The Trumpeter swan is so large that its body remains flat on the water in its search for food. In a week or two the swans will move on in search of warmer weather.
Earlier in the year a stop at the marsh provided an opportunity to view salmon, both reds and silvers, spawning as they neared the end of their lives. In the spring, the eggs will hatch and young salmon will head out to sea. Those same little ones will find their way back to the marsh at the end of their lives to spawn. The circle of life, beginning to end, plays out in the marsh each year.
For now I am back at the lodge, sitting in the warmth of the living room rather than the 47° deck outside. As I type this I look up constantly to watch the clouds amble by. Later I will chance a bear encounter as I pick apples. The dog is kenneled and not there to warn me if a bear is in the area, but the area I will pick from is surrounded by an electric fence so I know I'll be safe.
As you look over this land you realize you are a step closer to God. I love the view out of my own window at home. However, it doesn't even begin to measure up to the beauty seen from the Turnagain View Lodge.
