John worked for hours to find my “vanished into thin air” pictures and finally brought them back to life through the miracle of an ingenious computer program.

Our journey to the Palmer Elks Lodge led us meandering through the beautiful Copper Mountains, flowing along the silt covered glacier valley, crawling slowly past Matanuska Glacier, slipping past distressingly large rock slides and plopping us down next to the Fingers Lake in Wasilla.

At one of our stops, in the distance, I spied a mama moose with her baby on the far side of the river and walked slowly down the road until I was directly across from them, snapping picture after picture in the cold, not feeling anything but the rush of excitement at seeing nature at its finest.  When I waved good-by, mama looked straight at me and I swear I saw her smile.  I was more upset about the loss of these pictures than any others on our journey but thanks to hubby’s persistence, I can happily share them with y’all.

Throughout our travels I have learned that experiences cannot be fully imagined second hand.  No matter how well a person describes, or what a picture contains, being present far exceeds the notion of a picture that is worth 1,000 words.  The beauty of a sunset’s reach can be seen in a postage stamp size picture but its vastness in the present is beyond any representation.  Please know that I have wished many times that family and friends could be here to share in our adventure so if I’ve fallen short in my descriptions, it has not been for lack of trying.   Y’all are in our hearts and minds daily.