The depth and breathe of this trip to Alaska defies description.  Words collapse beneath the weight of its beauty and the camera lens is small and impotent.  If you have not been to Alaska, you must make plans to go at least once in this lifetime. I never knew that God's world had so many awesome mountains, bulging purple starfish and a sun that comes up at 3:30 am.

     Due to cloud cover, Mt. McKinley can only be seen 30% of the year. Our first morning out, while riding a glass domed train having reindeer sausage in the dining car,  the clouds parted and there was McKinley in all its majesty.  

    Breathtaking excursions laced this trip with gratitude and wonder. I was dropped by a helicopter onto Mendenhall Glacier where I went dog sledding. My dog team placed eight in the Iditarod last year, the world’s longest dog sled race of 1150 miles. I didn’t ride quite that far, but the thrill was undeniable! The dogs were much smaller than I had imagined. I have relied too much on Hollywood for information.

    I flew in a small plane in the evening with three other women over unexplored and unnamed mountains, over majestic glaciers sporting round pools of blue water which stared up at us like Mother Nature’s eyes. We landed on Ruth Glacier and yelled out “Denali.” Echoes came back through the prehistoric air four times. On the return to home base we saw a valentine in the snow, a dual avalanche in the shape of a heart. I took 576 pictures on this 12 day trip before returning to Florida, seemingly the other side of the world.

       I should be Quark’s Official Blogger because my eyes, ears and artists heart are always to dictation and I love to write!