IvyThe moment the helicopter lifted off, a wave of excitement filled the air.
My husband and I were 20 minutes away from stepping onto a glacier… like for real.
These ancient ice giants have fascinated me since I first learned about them in primary school.
Maybe it was my young spirit’s love of winter… or maybe it was learning that the mountains I called home had been shaped by these ancient rivers of ice. Whatever the reason, I remember making myself a promise the very first time I learned about glaciers:
One day, I would stand on one.
Fast forward to the early 2000s. I’m a college student learning about the reality of global warming.
My heart sank at the thought that I might one day live on a planet without glaciers.
For a few years, I was convinced I’d never get to see one.
They suddenly felt so far away.
As I learned more about how quickly glaciers were disappearing, the little girl who had made that promise began to believe she’d missed her chance.
Thankfully, somewhere along the way, I realized that knowing a dream might disappear was all the more reason to pursue it.
All of this was on my mind as the helicopter climbed 5,000 feet to get above the Alaskan landscape. My heart fluttered as I watched the mountains rise around us, knowing that somewhere just beyond the horizon, a glacier was waiting.
When the helicopter landed, my husband and I looked at each other, speechless.
From the air, we could see the ice stretch on for miles. But now, with our spiked boots crunching against its surface, the sheer magnitude of the moment settled deep into our souls.
We were really here.
I’ve struggled to find the right words to describe this experience.
Literally, I’ve been writing and rewriting this blog for a week.
I can honestly say that for all of Alaska, photos don’t do justice to the beauty and awe of experiencing it in person.
This is especially true for the glacier.
I’ll let Icelandic writer Halldór Laxness, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1955, take the lead on this one:
He once wrote, “Where the glacier meets the sky, the land ceases to be earthly, and the earth becomes one with the heavens.”
Yeah… that about sums it up.
To stand on the ancient power that carved our land, drink centuries-old, crystal-clear water, and realize that the little girl who dreamed of this moment was finally standing here… well, it just takes your breath away.
2 comments
Beautiful and the faces with the magical smiles add to the wonder of the realization that you are there. Thanks for sharing. Love ya
Love you!!! Thanks for reading this. The smiles and awe continued the whole trip because of this experience.