Well folks, I am going to prove to you the healing power of #MotherNature today…

Tracey and I were not having a very agreeable day… then we were invited on a #RiverRaftTour with #TalkeetnaRiverTours…

Tracey and I were having a fight and almost didn’t join in on this amazing adventure…

But luckily #TheTravelingMac side of me just got out there and hoped to free himself from this negativity and useless bickering…

Tracey soon joined and we were ready to take a long, peaceful ride down the river…. Oh god, did we need it! It was the day after the 4th of July… We were fully settled in by now but it was not easy…

The #TalkeetnaRiverPark #campground was packed every night, especially on the weekends… The #DenaliBrewingCompany was busy as hell… Tracey and I had just gotten off of a very long, crazy shift… So, the last thing on our minds was taking a trip down the river… We just wanted to stay home and try to unwind… But in reality, being at home meant dealing with the #campers after dealing with customers all day… So, we weren’t really escaping anything by staying home… And also, #TheMillenniumFalcon is a very small living area… So, I think Tracey and I were starting to get on each others’ nerves…

So, even though this trip was a knee jerk decision, we went anyway… And almost immediately after we arrived, we realized how good that decision was… Just watching the first raft take off down the #TalkeetnaRiver was worth the trip… We drove about 15 to 20 minutes up river to start the trip… I believe we floated down the #TalkeetnaRiver but it could have been the #SustinaRiver… Anyone who reads this and knows, please let me know… lol

And we came prepared folks… I didn’t have time to roll a joint, so I went to the local #PotShop, #TheHighTimeExpedition, which is literally right next to the #TalkeetnaRiverParkCampground we live on and bought a joint… (We will talk about High Times more in future posts…) One of our friends, Curtis, brought a pony keg for the ride also… So, we were pretty well set up for a nice trip down the peaceful river…

The river guide was a girl who came into the #TwisterCreekPub regularly… She would arrange these evening trips down the river for local workers and residents… It was practically free… Just a few bucks for insurance and licensing issues… And we of course tip the guide very well for her generous free trip…

This is how some #TourGuides make their extra cash, by doing private expeditions for the locals… the company doesn’t mind because it’s after the company’s operating hours and we don’t have to worry about losing daylight up here considering it wouldn’t get dark until around 2am…

Of course everyone on the raft was excited to partake in the smoke fest down the river… One of our co-workers, McCaughly, had his playlist blaring… He was playing some pretty weird music like #FrankZapa and the #MagneticFields… A really weird selection of music that strangely fit into the whole peaceful ride down the river…

Immediately, I could see all of the stress wipe away from Tracey’s face as the environment engulfed us… #MotherNature has this amazing ability to smother you so much that any small insignificant human activity or problem seems redundant and ridiculous…

It’s this huge pressure that is created by the massiveness of it all… Not an invasive pressure yet a pressure that will not allow simple thought to take over… It’s almost like you have no control of your own mind out here… You try to focus yet your eyes are distracted by the beauty and vastness of it all… Your ears are hearing so much at once, it feels like they are being caved in by the pressure in a very pleasant way… if that makes any sense… lol…

The smells are fresh and are delivered to you through sudden winds and gentle breezes… While you are smelling the breeze it is also tickling your skin with a crisp chill which is also weirdly pleasant…

All the while you are tasting the fresh beer from #TheDenaliBrewingCompany and have the essence of #MaryJane dancing in the air, tickling your senses…

If you look above you will see #Fireweed… This is a very popular pink/purple flowered plant in Alaska which is used for many purposes… The flower is delicious and can be added to many cuisines… It’s used in ice-creams, syrups and dressings… And it is also used to give an accurate reading of how long #solstice is… The #fireweed’s flowers grow from the bottom up… The first bloom is the start of summer and when the flowers reach the top of the plant, that’s an indication solstice is almost over…

If you ever visit #TheLastFrontier, you will hear a lot about this amazing plant and many others that grow up here…

Here’s our traveling companions above… They were the younger crowd, so they traveled with each other… We were on the raft for old people… lol… But we had the pony keg and #MaryJane… So, I think our raft was where the real party was…

I loved most of all, the amazing feeling of being lead by the river with no motor or any mechanical driving force… The river just guided us slowly, letting us ride upon her… You could feel her many ripples at your feet, as they passed below the thin, rubbery raft floor…

I think this was my favorite part of all, feeling her and traveling with the trillions upon trillions of water molecules that would make their way down the river only to be dumped back on top of the mountains to do it all over again…

We never really think of the long, arduous journey water makes every year… And without that journey, life wouldn’t be able to survive… If you learn basic physics, you will recognize that everything we sense is moving… Nothing stands still in this #Universe… If anything did, then it wouldn’t exist… For our existence completely relies upon the movement of space and time… And considering we are a product of space and time, we have to continuously move to exist…

There’s my friend/co-worker and pony keg bearer, Curtis… I made the mistake of going out with him the first week in #Talkeetna for a drink… Well, that turned into shots and a horrible hangover at work the next day… Oh, how we never learn… lol…

Curtis would try to get me to go out again but I learned my lesson the first time… lol… It was an on going joke at work to avoid drinking with Curtis… You will have a blast but you will definitely pay for it the next day… He loves to do shots!

I love the beauty through destruction out in #nature… Here you see this log floating above… It looks so peaceful and beautiful when in reality that tree has been torn apart slowly by the relentless flow of water and unforgiving #Alaskan weather…

You look at pictures like these and could never imagine this river being so destructive… It’s funny how we need limited amounts of this miracle, combination of three atoms, to survive yet a mass amount of it can easily kill us…

Just one of the many ironies of Mother Nature… What protects us can easily kill us at the same time…

The sun was of course adding to the serenity of this amazing ride… She was dancing with the clouds, creating pockets of light that brought depth and beauty to what we were already seeing…

I took so many pictures, afraid I would miss a moment… Glad I caught this one of another co-worker, Chris… I really liked Chris right off the bat… He is very sarcastic with a great sense of humor… What impressed me the most about Chris was the way he lived his life… He has his own house in #Anchorage but liked working in Talkeetna for numerous reasons… So, Chris and his dog would live out of his truck during his work week… And then he would go back to Anchorage on his days off to see his girlfriend, who takes care of the house while he is gone…

One day, I was taking a walk after work along the river when I saw Chris laid out on the river beach… He was in his work clothes and his dog was exploring the area… I really admired this because Chris didn’t need anything to be happy up in Talkeetna… He would shower at the #RoadHouse before work… He lived out of his truck with his dog… And that’s all he needed… And honestly, I think he is one of the happiest, most entertaining people I have met…

Now, that’s a smile Mother Nature is responsible for… I have pictures of Tracey and I, stressed out at the beginning but there’s no need to post those pictures… we are all aware of what displeasure looks like… We don’t see the pictures of happiness enough…

To think, we almost didn’t go on this trip! I wonder how many beautiful opportunities I have passed up over the years…  Many opportunities that would have enriched my soul, like this one… But the trials and tribulations of life interfered and made me believe that going on trips like these were a waste of time… When in reality, whatever I am doing in life is probably the true waste of time and a distraction from what I should really be doing out here…

And when I thought this trip couldn’t get any better, the other raft ahead of us docked at this little beach area…

We were going to take a break from the ride and hang out on a beach in the middle of the Talkeetna River…

Completely isolated from civilization…

There’s Curtis making sure priorities are tended to… lol… It’s like he has met his best friend and traveling companion…

Then I heard a loud caw from the distance… And when I looked up, wouldn’t you know it, there was a huge nest perfectly placed at the top of this very tall tree…

I slowly started walking towards the tree… Is that what I think it is?

Yes it is folks! It’s my first ever #BaldEagle sighting! I have never seen a bald eagle up close and in person before…

This mighty bird was perched right above her nest… Showing her dominance from such heights…

She was calling out into the wild, with a call that fits her mighty posture…

It was a sharp, aggressive caw that filled the air and cut through the overwhelming pressure filled silence that surrounded us…

To make such a sound that cuts through the air shows how mighty these birds are… Her call pierced through your ears and made you feel like the #AmericanBaldEagle was the only thing out here…

For whenever I spoke or listened to others speak, it sounded muffled due to all the noises and intense pressure that was caving in on your ears… Yet this eagle’s call cut through all of nature’s numbness and filled the air for miles and miles… What a treat… it made this trip one of the most memorable I have ever taken…

I can see why this bird symbolizes our great country… The #BaldEagle is in a category of its own and you can see why she is at the top of the food chain… Everything about her emits power and superiority… To think Benjamin Franklin wanted the Turkey for our Country’s bird… I’m glad we went with the eagle… Even though the Eagle is an aggressive predator… But yet Turkeys are very submissive and somewhat dumb… Well, from a human’s perspective that is…

I must have spent most of our half hour stop admiring that eagle… By the time I got back to the crowd, they were almost ready to leave…

Folks, everything was perfect out here… All I could do is smile… And my smile was so big that tears were forming… I could feel the chill of my tears cooling and drying to my face as the gentle breeze passed…

I was in ecstasy! The younger raft even brought two of their dogs along… Even the dogs were filled with pure happiness out here… They were running around, playing with a stick, amongst each other… They looked so damn happy to be out here… Being a dog living  up in #Alaska must be a remarkable thing…

This is freedom folks!!!! This is what our fore fathers fought for! This is what we fought to preserve!

Then when you thought it couldn’t get any better, one of the #K2Aviation planes flew by…

I love that the human mechanical element is so damn small out here… It’s the only time I truly feel technology and human advancement is beautiful… These planes are just an ant in a massive environment…  I love that at any moment Mother Nature could decide that she has had enough and can throw that plane into utter disaster with one mighty breath… Out here Mother Nature rules… And right at that moment when you think you have her figured out, she will prove you wrong…

For Mother Nature can be worked with but never controlled… I sure hope we never get that power because that would mean the end of this mighty planet…. Human’s are too ignorant and egotistical to have that power and use it wisely… Well in this present moment in time that is…

At least there are some of us who get it… We may be a minority but we are the ones who protect this planet with our voice…

I’m convinced I could take the most cynical, greedy businessman out here for a week and make him realize what an ignorant, powerless fuck he really is!!! I actually think it is a necessity for everyone who lives on this planet to go out in nature and try to survive…

If everyone experienced what I have experienced in the last 3 years, there is no way they would allow money and power to cloud their brains… I know I sound hopeful but ignorance is what makes these idiots so damn reckless to this planet…

If they just saw this planet through my eyes for a day, I know their attitude towards it would change somewhat…

Your voice is the most powerful thing in society… Ignorance is what leads to the destruction of Mother Nature… And how you combat ignorance is to spread truth with your voice…

That is the real element that can save this planet… No matter how you try, you can’t change the truth… If you don’t believe me, come out and live a summer up here, out in the wild… Try and lie to Mother Nature… I dare you! She doesn’t like ignorance and will make you pay… I guarantee it!

So, we were soon back, traveling down river…

Tracey doesn’t drink much and never smokes Mary Jane yet she looks high to me here… She’s high on life right now… If you look at McCaughly, sitting next to her, you can see this peaceful confidence about him… A very common look up here in Alaska…

Look at that moon folks! It’s 10:15 pm! Yep! And it looks like it’s around 4 in the evening…

During the summer, nothing stops up here in Alaska…

All the plants and animals work around the clock… Seems exhausting but you have to remember they get a good 6 month rest every year… That’s if you consider battling the brutal winters up here while hibernating a viable rest…

I think the life experiencing it up here every year would have a different view… lol…

Look at us complex creatures… This is what we should be focusing on folks… Not money and riches but just this…

No one is fighting over any crumbs out here… You couldn’t possibly… There’s just so much up here…

Competition seems so ridiculous up here… We wouldn’t survive up here if we had that approach… The only way you survive the chaotic whirlwinds of Alaska is to work together…

The disease of greed is useless up here, so it rarely exists…

Who would want to own this? I don’t want to own it! Owning such miraculous beauty is like trying to own a person… In reality, Mother Nature owns us considering she is the one who created us and can wipe us out with hardly any effort what so ever…

Anyone who is arrogant enough to think they can own this is probably the same type who would welcome slavery…

For their only goal is to own things… What kind of goal is that?

I know I sound like a #TreeHuggingLiberal but just simplify the whole ordeal and think about it…

People actually think they can own this by giving another person a piece of paper…

It’s laughable really…. If Mother Nature could talk, she would laugh in our faces at such a ridiculous notion…

But yet all through out history, that’s the biggest human flaw of all, in my eyes…

It’s the arrogance that comes with wealth and power… This arrogance that actually makes people believe that they are superior to others and the land around them…

It’s a sickness that society should address at a young age… They should have classes on greed and what it has done to humans, animals and this planet throughout history…

But then without greed, how can our society exist how it is today? Our whole society is now dependent on the greedy because greed now controls this planet…

If we all came to our senses and stopped buying from the corrupt, greedy companies, our society would crumble… If we all started respecting our planet and started making decisions based on the betterment of Mother Nature, many of the Corporations would fall apart and our monetary system would crumble… Because, like it or not, our whole society is built upon cheating, screwing, attacking, selfishness and pure greed…. And how do they get away with it folks? They just state that ‘business is business…’

That’s right folks, all you have to do, after screwing someone over or many someone’s over, is just state that you are doing business… Then you are free! How convenient!

Do you know who else uses this same type of ideology through their theology? ISIS! Yep… The Koran states that you can’t sin against another human being… Like you can’t kill, rape or destroy another’s life… But ISIS has somehow changed that very respectable theology and made it so they can do anything they want against an enemy of Islam… The Koran doesn’t allow this yet ISIS and terrorist organizations have somehow changed the whole wording to fit their own needs…

How is business any different? We all know that screwing over others like cheating, lying and stealing is wrong… Yet if you own a company and you have enough money and power, somehow it is allowed… Now I know it’s murky waters here… A businessman can’t just go out and start murdering who they like… Well not yet, at least… But we all know getting away with it is possible with enough money… Especially in this day and age…

But a businessman can use his money and power to destroy competing businesses without any repercussions what so ever… If he wants to put a whole company out of business, knowingly destroying many lives, he can… And when asked why he did such a horrible thing and did it in the most ruthless way so he can profit as much as possible, he just states “Business is business…” Then all is forgiven… Oh how convenient…

I know folks, the business world has to function somehow and it can’t be all roses and sparkling clean assholes… But why is a business not held accountable when they choose the most ruthless path to make the most money possible? They have many options that would help the people who they are putting out of work but the extra, unnecessary capital gain is more important than those people… And those people are apart of an economy which now suffers from such ruthless transactions… Because those same people end up in debt, without work, losing their houses and going bankrupt…

Not only do they pay but the whole society pays just so that one greedy business can add pennies to their profit… How is that excusable? We don’t teach our kids to act in such ways yet we allow businesses and the rich to do what ever they want just because they have money and power…

And we all know this planet suffers from such attitudes because the rich and powerful are more concerned about their immediate profit instead of doing what’s blatantly clear as right for our planet in the long run…

Completely ignoring the simple fact that this planet created everything that they rely on…

And ignoring the fact that we are just tiny sub atomic specks when it comes to our existence in an unexplainable, mysterious, vast, infinite #Universe…

Yet somehow they are more important than all of this… And why? Because they have lots of filthy monetary paper…

I would love to load a spaceship up with all these greedy bastards and fill it with all of their money… Then shoot all of them out into outer space and see how they survive out there with their money… See how well their land deeds do for them out there…

Go explain to our Sun and our Universe how powerful you are and how much you own… See where that gets you out there…

Does this bridge look familiar? This is where the three rivers meet… The Talkeetna River, the Sustina River and the #ChulitnaRiver… To the left of this bridge is where the town of Talkeetna is…

Our trip was soon ending, as we made our way under this massive, fortified bridge…

This bridge allows trains to cross these mighty rivers… There’s a #HurricaneTrain in which tourists take… it takes you out into the #AlaskanWilderness…

A few co-workers went on this train ride and they saw grizzlies eating salmon right on the river banks…

I was so jealous… We didn’t get to go on this ride, which was very disappointing…

Can’t do it all out here… Not enough time or money…

There’s that construction I was talking about… The rivers are getting so out of control up here, the town is struggling to keep up…

And of course Mother Nature closed out this great river ride with some gorgeous sun dancing…

The sun was getting ready to set in a couple of hours…

She danced along the horizon, sneaking behind clouds and the mountains… You can see #DenaliMountain above..

Just absolutely amazing and gorgeous… I could live up here and just watch her all day…

I don’t need anything else…

Look at the depth and the many, many things going on… In one picture we are seeing all kinds of different terrain and climates, all stacked on top of another in a single picture… Though you can’t see them, there are billions upon billions of organisms all caught in this one picture…

With all of their combined efforts they make this beauty for us to enjoy…

We passed the beach that is only 150 yards from #TheMillenniumFalcon…

And docked soon after…

The end of the trip was ended and commemorated by the beautiful sunset… which is hours long up here…

We were only a ten minute walk from home…

Yet, everyone hung around as they pulled the rafts in… We all stayed to view the sunset and discuss the amazing ride we just took…

It was a perfect end to an amazing evening…

A trip in the  evening we almost didn’t take part in…

That’s why you have to jump on opportunities and ignore all of the ridiculous excuses that keep us from going on trips like these…

The trail Tracey and I walked along the river, where all of the free campsites are, was the same trail that would lead us back home…

We didn’t want to leave, we were so at peace out here…

The river relieved all of the nonsense that was clouding our brains… The same nonsense that makes you actually believe what you are doing at the time is more important than this…

I love to savor these moments of connection to Mother Nature knowing that this feeling would soon be gone… It will be replaced with the simple trials and tribulations of life…

Like, my burger is over cooked or my drink is taking too long… When you really think about it, it’s all completely ridiculous…

There’s a whole world out there, that we come from… yet we are more concerned about having people serve us and our level of importance in a society instead of what is truly important… A society that is completely narcissistic and oblivious to what is really going on around them….

I really try to look back on these moments of serenity… I try to hold onto them… I try to relive them in my head…

Not only because I love how I feel when I’m connected to a gorgeous world like this one… But also, I am trying to hold onto that feeling so when the next opportunity arises, I won’t make stupid excuses, trying to avoid such a needed trip… just so I can swim in the misery I have already created for myself in a society that could give two shits about me…

No thank you folks… I would rather hang out with my creator…