Sliding into glacial pastures  the way a foot slides into a slipper, the  boat announces itself with a whisper. It is not obtrusive because of the grand scale of one of the world’s largest national parks-3.3 million acres of beauty called Glacier Bay. It effortlessly dwarfs this big fat ship of 1400 passengers and 650 crew  members. We are silent.  We each  find our own spot to watch the show and somehow be completely alone.

There is a Hollywood roll of heavenly backdrop on a continuous strip on both port and starboard side. It is impossibly beautiful, velvet green bedspreads of grass and trees dipping up and down through crevasses. Mountains of steel grey climb past clouds with almost fluorescent white snow painted in stuck places. Glacier fields scramble down with turquoise blue density, dropping 1000 of feet of avalanche at a time without warning.

 This film of perfection goes on for hours against a sun filled blue that is seldom promised here.  It almost gets tiresome, this responsibility to never take your eyes off it for fear of wasting a scene resembling nothing you have known.

 We are little and useless. We have our self importance and our goals. We have our vanities and our opinions. We carry heavy wants  and needs.  This scene reminds us we are passing through this earth.

as adults we want smooth sailing but my nephew reminded us that we should crave “the bumps” in life-check out this post by clicking here