Days are rapidly getting shorter and I’ve finally seen the stars. It was interesting to look up at the sky last night and see Cassiopeia and the Big Deeper and know that those are the same stars I used to see in New Mexico. What a big sky and what a small world.
Because the weather has been so nice, we’ve been outside a lot. It’s amazing that there are so many beautiful places to go not too far from home. 2 weeks ago we went on a hike around a lake with beaver lodges, lots of wildlife and so many cool things to see. I was a little uneasy about being there by ourselves because of the possibility of bigger wildlife (moose and bears), but then we could see behind the trees the sign for McDonalds and the hotel, and we know that Wal-Mart and Lowes and other stores are right there. We were so close to civilization and yet surrounded by God’s untouched nature.
On Friday we went to a high peak nearby. It was beautiful and as we hiked higher the view just got more amazing! The trees are all turning colors and because they cover pretty much every mountain and hill, all we see is this carpet of colors spreading before our eyes. Words cannot describe the beauty and it really cannot be captured in a picture although we did try several times (like more than 200 thanks to digital photography.) Sometimes the trees seem to form a group of trees with similar colors, and it looks like we’re looking at a quilt with colorful patches here and there. Because the day was nice and clear, we were able to see Mt McKinley, or Denali as they call it here, for the first time. It is huge and we are more than 100 miles away from it! It’s all covered in snow and it’s so much taller than all the other mountains around. I can’t wait to see it up close. It must be something! On the other side of the hill we could see town, with the 2 rivers that run through and several small lakes and ponds. Beautiful!
Yesterday, after a Spirit filled church service and a good lunch (haystacks!), our new friends took us on a hike to another high peak. We had a large group so there were lots of kids. The children quickly found a blueberry patch on the top and sat down picking and eating blueberries. It was cute to see these little heads peaking from the blueberry patch.
The view was amazing again, and because fall happens so fast up here, there were even more trees changing colors. There’s so much to see everywhere that sometimes I don’t know if I should look up or down. Most of the trees only turn yellow or orange, but the smaller plants closer to the ground turn red, purple, or different tones of green. It makes for an amazing combination.
As we were driving home, still in awe of the amazing landscape before our eyes, the moon showed up in the sky. It’s full and it was big. It made the view even more breathtaking and I didn’t think that could be possible! We were just trying to take it all in when we thought that to see moose would make a great day end perfectly. Not even 2 minutes after that, a car driving on the opposite direction flashed its brights. We slowed down and sure enough, right there on the side of the road there were 2 of these incredible big animals, quietly looking at us, letting us admire them for a few moments before disappearing into the woods.
I imagine God hearing us talk about the moose, smiling and saying: well, let’s make this day perfect, and then giving those two moose the mission of going near the road, during hunting season, so that these kids of His could see them and have a perfect day. We thanked Him for that gift, a demonstration of His love for us.
That is my God!
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