Soul Homes

I call them soul homes because I don't know how else to describe that connection that we feel to some places. They aren't home but we feel each time we return that we've come home. I feel this way about Glacier, the North Shore in Minnesota, and Yosemite. Italy came close and I think were I ever to visit again I'd have that same feeling. If I believed in reincarnation it would make sense- this home-coming feel but I don't and so I'm at a loss. It's as if we were formed of the soil there and the place itself has knit itself to our being. Do you ever feel it? My husband grew up in North Dakota and I know he feels it whenever he's in the prairies which makes sense, but he feels it standing on the shoreline of Lake Superior as well.

Glacier I love because it has everything beautiful in nature but ocean. It's as if God went crazy with the glory in this one spot on earth. Waterfalls, glaciers, wildflowers, mountains, it's all here. Years ago I went to Rome and remember walking through the Vatican museum at first loving it but after awhile you become almost numb as if you've completely saturated your system and can't possibly absorb anything more. Glacier gives me the same acute feeling. Driving the Going to the Sun Road is one pinnacle experience after another. It's like a crescendo or the finale of a fireworks display. You keep thinking it can't possibly continue and yet it does. Waterfall, glacier, crescent, glory after glory. The views are lovely but the smell of the cedars is itself an experience to treasure. When I create art I wish I could capture the senses like nature can. I love it.

We were only there for two days. One day on the east side of the park, and one day on the west. But it was an amazing experience. We stayed at the Hidden Moose Lodge in Whitefish and ate Grand Marnier French toast with fresh berries for breakfast and sipped wine in a huge great room at night. So just a brief sojourn but I really couldn't recommend it too highly for any who in their heart need to go home.

On the Road

I'm posting today from Great Falls, Montana. So named for the Great Falls of Lewis and Clark fame. It's been a fun but busy vacation so far but I've thought of all of you often and would like to share some of what we've seen and what I've been thinking about.

The first really cool thing was a roadside sculpture called "Geese in Flight" that was created by a high school teacher turned sculptor over a decade ago. It marks the beginning of the "Enchanted Highway" a 30 mile stretch of roadside sculptures that winds through grassland. The artist's goal was to lead the visitor to a small, struggling, rural town as a way of revitalizing the town's economy. Unfortunately our timetable only let us view this first amazing sculpture but I would love to return and travel the "Enchanted Highway" for myself.
We stopped at a Interstate rest area that had a beatiful view of the surrounding grasslands. The sky was a brilliant blue, the grass glowed viridian and had lovely organic crop lines criss crossing the land. Usually the roadside rests are there to mark some historic landmark as well as provide a little relief for the traveler. Some are perched amid the mountains, others on a lake, they really can be lovely. I loved that this one had a balcony created so that people could stand and admire the land. There was nothing unusual about the sight but it truly was beautiful. So sometime someone with the soul of an artist saw beauty in farmland and decided to create a platform from which visitors could stand and absorb the loveliness of the ordinary. Because for miles and miles in any direction the view was grassland.

Later I wrote in my journal. "Changing terrain" Here's an excerpt-

"As I'm writing this we're driving through a beautiful "badlands" area. It is so different from the prairie and lakes regions I'm familiar with. I see a rugged beauty in the rocky landscape. It is so different and unfamiliar that I am awed by the size of this land. It stirs me to contemplate my perspective on life. Would it be different if I were to have lived here my whole life? Would the rocks and the amazing distance from everything have made me different?" "If I were to live here would the changing terrain change me? OR would it lose it's beauty as it grew to be the familiar?" Just a passing thought I wonder about.