"There's Ice Cubes In My Eyeballs"

The headlights lit the area ahead, flickering from dim to bright in an attempt to expose glassy black orbs in the ditch as our car hurtled along the twisting highway. Mountains stretched up all around as we traveled further towards the snowy caps and more and more deer and elk appeared on the edges of the pavement, their tiny brains debating whether they could jump out before the car or go bounding back into the ditch. It was a game of eye spy with my dearest cousin in the passenger seat beside me. Brakes heated up as they were pressed and the full car slowed to pass by daring animals, music blared through the car to keep us alert and awake as we lost daylight. 

Turning into the middle campsite out of the three we'd planned to check out we came upon a pay phone, thinking we'd call and inform our parents that we'd be going further into the mountains...because we just weren't far enough. Excited, we jumped out of the car and took a few pictures by the lone telephone before shoving a quarter into it and dialing the number, only to remember it was long distance. Hanging back up we began to put more change into it, getting a hold of the operator who informed us of the price to pay. Upon putting money into the box, we found it was full and thus could not make the call. Sighing we headed back into the corolla and headed back to the highway, only to find a bar of service on Tess's cell phone not a moment after getting on the highway. Pulling over we frantically called home and updated our location.

Within an hour we'd arrived and set up our tent. The clock struck 11:30 and we were bagged. Suddenly a fire didn't sound like the greatest idea as the cool air nipped at our exposed skin and we began to prepare for bed. Deciding to head out and find an outhouse I happened to peer up at the black, starry sky only to be confused by the odd shapes across the sky. And then it hit me. The Northern Lights flared up and roared with different colours, covering half of the sky in a dance of ending flames of purple and green and blue. We sat against the car watching the lights point towards what seemed like a vortex point until our bodies forced us back to bed.

Needless to say we did not get the rest we'd hoped for. The frozen air turned us into bags of hypothermia and we shivered under three sleeping bags, our backs pressed against each other for additional heat. By the morning, which one always expects to be burning hot in a tent, we were still frozen and struggling to get out of bed to build that promising fire. Once we'd gathered the strength to get up and get dressed we found our contacts not as malleable as usual and sticking to our eyes like your tongue sticks to metal in below zero temperatures. Eating a healthy breakfast of cherry campfire pies we headed out to do some driving and hiking. 

As we drove along the highway towards Banff though something was spotted far ahead, "What out for that....thing." Tess exclaimed, confused as to what the brown lump was. Pressing on the brakes hard we watched as the animal ran across the road and into the trees. My eyes peered after it attempting to make out what the strange creature was, both of us sitting in silence as we tried to make sense of it. It was too large for an otter or fox, not big enough for a bear...and then it clicked.  The distinct brown and silver markings, the way it ran like a weasel could only have meant one thing it'd been a wolverine. Surprised we'd seen something so rare we trekked on only to see three bears that day, big horn sheep (males) and many more deer. 

The following night we bundled up in numerous layers in hopes we'd get through the night with a wink of sleep. Which worked. At least for myself. I slept through the majority of the night, only being bothered by my shoulder when rolling over and the rest was history. Driving home today was difficult as we both wanted to remain in the mountains, far away from civilization and the conflict with our lives. 

We were truly blessed however with all the wildlife and natural events we saw this weekend. It couldn't have been better with the sunny weather we had, the lack of rain, and the safe trip the Lord provided. I'm excited for the next time I get to go out to the mountains with the rest of the Anderson cousins and enjoy some time in a peaceful environment away from busy life.

Life is good.