Ski Diaries: Volume 1

                                                                      One of a Kind
A thrilling gust of wind rips through my hair and ruffles my clothes as I sit on the edge of the unknown. The frigid air chills me to the bone, but the excitement of not knowing what will happen next is too much to contain. Joy is seen on my face, as I make my first turn through the fresh snow. Powder flies up in different directions but it only makes me more focused and the smile just gets bigger. If you happen to watch anyone who truly loves the art of skiing, just look at their faces while carving the mountain. The smile almost never ends, and most of the time is accompanied by a shrill of joy and pure happiness. This is something you can not experience anywhere else. You can not learn to truly love and appreciate this from anywhere else. You can not take classes in any university or school about the pure thrill and excitement you get from skiing until you experience it for yourself and on your own account. No amount of knowledge from any form of study can get close to the colossal amount of peace and joy you receive from making fresh turns where no one has been yet. The evergreens are a blur as you tear down the mountain. This is something that can not be captured or experienced any other way than actually doing it yourself. The first time and I was hooked. It is almost an addiction that can not be satisfied. For myself, I can never get enough snow days or enough thrill from skiing a powdered glade. It is something that is one of a kind. 

Gregory Alan Isakov. Maybe one of the best indie, folk musician to ever make an impression on the industry. With songs like these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZynIzXTvk4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_AKDeBakCw&feature=related

I've been listening to a lot of him recently and I think he sums up my music taste perfectly. Every song he sings reminds me of Canada and Alaska. Those memories he brings back are some of the best I've ever had. His music just sounds like it should be played across the endless mountains and rain forests of British Columbia. Long drawn out sunsets that leaves you wondering if the twilight hours will ever end. And then the cold, faint, stars that pop here and there by midnight make it worth while to stay up late. There's something different with those stars and planets compared to Texas. There's something different with the entire sky there. Its a sort of indelible sensation that you never want to end. Gregory's music brings back all of these memories quite clearly.

McBride Valley, British Columbia. 

and ahh that full bellied moon she's a shinin on me
yeah she pulls on this heart like she pulls on the sea

and those broken hearted lovers,
they got nothing on me

These lyrics is why I am an avid listener of his. His music seems to transform my idea of life, its almost pedagogic to my soul. One day I'll move to British Columbia and I'll remember what his music did to my life. One day I'll climb this mountain of faith that I'm trying to accomplish and his music will probably be right there the whole way. Thank you, sir. Thank you for the encouragement and the memories you'r music will always bring to my heart.  

Until next time, Thanks for reading!

True Love.

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

What is love? Is it the simple love of mexican food or ice cream? Or is it someone you know that you truly love with all your heart? Maybe the real love is the fact God bestows his 'True love' on us and time and time again we're reminded that He has forgiven us of our sins. Maybe its the love He shows us each time we look around at this beautiful world we live in. He made it just for YOU! Its amazing. "Your love is deep, Your love is wide, Your love is great, Your love is high, Your love is all we ever need" Maybe its his love he has shown to us that teaches us to love. Maybe without his love we wouldn't know how to love at all. There would be no missionaries across the world helping thousands of people. Marriages wouldn't really be true marriage without the love that God has given to us as an example. There wouldn't be true compassion for one another without him. 

I have been reading 'Mere Christianity' recently and been reading about the Moral law that is embedded in our hearts from God. It tells us to do the right thing and to walk straight. Its that little voice in the back of your head telling you what you're doing is wrong. I think this is just another way God has shown his love for us. Without him we wouldn't have that little voice telling us that what we're about to do is wrong. True Love wouldn't exist. 

It amazes me over and over again. Humans, who think we're all that in a bag of chips in this world, can be loved so much even with all the wrong we do. We are soooooo small in contrast to the universe, and there is someone bigger and better than us. And he still loves us even when we think we're better than him. 

I think the basis of morality and everything good in this world comes from him and only him. There is nothing man made that can be better then what he has already made for us. And I think this is True Love. The very fact that we're living today is a gift from God. In spite of all the wrong we do, we are constantly forgiven. We are loved.  

Jesus Lord of Heaven - Phil Wickham. 

Go and explore. Don't forget to bring the camera!

How wonderful God's creation is. From the roaring rivers in Montana, the amazing forests in British Columbia, to the abundent wildlife in Alaska, God made this earth nothing short of amazing. Everywhere you turn there seems to be something new and exciting to experience. Just do a little exploring and you'll be amazed at what you might find. 

Day 1 of trip: Waking up to a beautiful twilight over the Wyoming, high desert. Cody Wyoming a small but eventful town just outside the entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Everything completely still except my thumping of my heart as this was the day I embarked to Alaska. Road trip anyone? The next 3,000 miles on the road would turn out to be the some of the best I have ever experienced... That first day was nothing but driving until we got into Glacier National Park late in the day and set up camp. We then explored the park before sunset and found many beautiful places along side the road to stop and take pictures. The above picture was one of the pictures along side the one main road that goes through the heart of Glacier National Park. Beautiful waterfalls and gentle brooks wound their way down the mountain sides and eventually into a river at the bottom of the valley. Up and up the road went all the way to a pass which was above tree line. With bighorn sheep literally right in front of us, we had plenty of time to spare and shoot some amazing animals. Glacier National Park was a pleasant place but we had our eyes fixed to the north towards Alaska. The next day we were on the road again and headed to Banff, Canada. Once again God just took our breaths away at this amazing place. We spent several days cruising Banff and its wonders but once again we were ready to ride north to the "Last Frontier". While listening to Gregory Alan Isakov ("and ahh that full bellied moon she's a shinin on me
yeah she pulls on this heart like she pulls on the sea") we continued our trek. Driving through BC was amazing. I already have a section devoted to that but I could go on and on about how perfect it seemed to be. Thick, dark forests and then little openings to let a peaceful field come into view and then before you know it, back to the wet and dark forests again. We stopped at a lake for the sunset and it seemed that God was just shouting his glory at us. On and on we drove late into the night past thousands of lonely trees that the seemed to look the same for miles and miles. We could drive for 50 miles and see a total of 5 homes. The wilderness is dominate in this part of the world. Thats what I love about it. 


Beauty seems to be never ending from Montana all the way to Alaska. If you ever have a chance to make this trip I urge you to do it. It will be one the most amazing experiences of your life. You'll come closer to God and his creation every minute. Don't let your guard down if you think it starts to get boring. The next corner your mouth will drop and you'll stare in awe just like you have been for the last thousand miles on the road. The world is beautiful. There are plenty people who never venture outside there state and don't think anything of it. They are missing so much. Just go out and explore. Oh, and take your camera with you. God will give you many opportunities to capture His beauty through your lens. Just remember he made this for you to enjoy so lets give thanks for that fact. Goodbye for now and I hope you take the chance to go explore and experience Gods creation like I have this summer. 


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Seth Walker Photography

Alaska: "Heart of the Wild"

Alaska is full of adventures around every corner. Whether it be a grizzly bear encounter, hiking to glaciers, or just enjoying Gods creation. Alaska is has all these things that you can take in and is truly the "Last Frontier". Everything about it I loved. It made me seem to be in an unreal place that was out of our own world and into a domain so strange and wild that it gave me goosebumps every time we came upon something new (Which was pretty often). Driving to Hyder Alaska was amazing because for miles we drove through clouds that covered up mountain sides around us and when they would part we could see that we were actually in a fjord like valley, with waterfalls every 50 feet or so flowing ever so gently over the side of a cliff. Then just as quick as the clouds parted they covered them up again. This gave me a mystical feeling almost like the video game "Myst" that I played when I was younger. You never really knew when you might come across a bear walking along side the highways trying to find something to eat or a moose going for an afternoon stroll. Once in Hyder, Alaska the roads turned to dirt (more like mud) and the town was no longer the type of town I'm used to seeing. It reminded me of what an old 1800s miners town would look like. Old buildings that were no longer in use along with some that still were, and most of them looked like they would fall down any minute. We traveled out of town towards the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site, where bears and other wildlife are seen regularly. This was the first time that I was able to get up close to the Alaskan Grizzly bear. What an amazing site it was. They came down to feed in the streams and clawed 30 lb. salmons in one effortless swipe in the water. This reminded me of how Amazing God is. He created this for all of us to see and enjoy. He made the bears thick furs so they can wade in ice cold water, he gave them huge claws so they can catch and eat salmon easily. He made them just how He wanted them. The bears didn't seem to mind us watching in awe from a platform above them. They just went on feasting on salmon for hours in the pouring rain... They were like giants wading in the river but still had a gentleness about them that gave them an appeal like non other. After a while the sow and cub (mother and kid) went into the woods farther down the stream. The smalls crowd of people watching went back to get under cover from the rain. I stayed and praised God for this amazing place and soaked (literally soaked) in all it had to offer. About ten minutes later I heard the trees behind me snapping and they were waving like a wind storm had just came in. The two bears had come behind me and were only about fifteen feet away from me. It was amazing being all by myself and enjoying these creatures as they played together right beside me. They would look up every now and again but for the most part paid no attention to me. I photographed them walking right beside me until the crowd came back and realized what they had missed. I guess I learned that it pays off to sit for a couple minutes and enjoy nature. 


Slow down! God has made all that is around you and you might just miss something that you could have seen if you weren't rushing all the time! That is all for now. More about Alaska to come! 


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Seth Walker Photography

The Open West

I love the west and all it has to offer. Have you ever put your head out the window of a car going 50 MPH? You get that breathless feeling and the wind is ripping through your hair as you speed on. (That's what I think flying would feel like if I had wings.) Traveling west into the "Open Frontier" gives me this feeling inside. Its open and cold and warm all at the same time. My family travels to Colorado almost every summer and some winters for vacations. I love forgetting about where I live and forgetting my troubles that go along with it. Every time I go west I feel this way. It feels like a breath of fresh air that can give you chills during the night but warms you up when the sun peaks over the mountains towering above you. The wildflowers, beautiful ponds and streams in the summer and the exhilarating skiing and lovely snow that falls in the winter, all seems to come along with the package of living in the west. There are deserts as well, but these have a beauty about them that is different from any other place I have ever been.

The Forests in BC

As you go north into Canada and BC area you start running into cold air that seems to stick around all year long. The trees that grow in British Columbia are like nothing I have ever seen before. Like giants looking over little dwarfs that protects  them from the open sky that lurks behind the sheet of green. Underneath the giant fir trees, huge ferns grow with fierce ambitions to ever reach the height of the trees towering above them. Growing on the trees is moss that doesn't want to let go and just wisps through the cool Canadian air. From the outside looking in, the forests are so dark you can barely make out what might or might not be inside. Canada has a special place in my heart now that I have seen all the beauty it offers. Its an amazing thing that God created all this. He is so Beautiful (Beautiful - Phil Wickham)!

Overall not only does Canada have a special place in my heart but the West in general has it. Whats an amazing place we live in. The place we call Earth.

More to come.

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Seth Walker Photography