Alaska – 09-15-2012

The morning arrives and time for breakfast and to leave the ship.  I will not miss my time aboard nor will I look back at it with nostalgia.  However, I was where I needed to be at that place and time.  I met people, I touched people and people touched me back.  I became more than I was when I started and the reality of life is that is all you can ask for each day that you live.  To be a little bit more than you started with that day.

In saying that, I flew off the boat and put together a group to go flightseeing.  After making the call, grabbing the people, we rushed to Tanquer air, where Dale boarded us onto our float plane and we headed out to see Misty Fjords by air.

The clouds were blankets below us and the mountains loomed out them like islands.  On the top of the mountains were hidden lakes untouched by man, glistening in the sun.  As we flew through the Fjords, we selected an upper lake to land in, inaccessible except by float plane.  The landing was as if we were a feather floating down towards the water.

As we stepped onto the floats and took in the glory of the untouched land around us, I finally understood the appeal of Alaska.

But, I still had items left on the list.  So I whisked another person off into my scheme.  Bear watching.

It was perfect, from the magnificence of the flying bald eagles and the bears playing in the stream it was pure brilliance.  I can now go home feeling as if I had fulfilled the Alaskan experience.