"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." ~ Miriam Beard Describe a travel experience that transformed you.

When I was a child, my family had a travel trailer and my dad loved to plan trips. Because he owned his own business, we had the luxury of lengthy vacations in the summers. We camped in all of the state parks in Michigan and took a trip around Lake Superior. We trekked to New Mexico to see my dad's family many times, to California and the redwoods, to Colorado and Mesa Verde, to Utah and Bryce Canyon, to Arizona and the Grand Canyon, to Florida and to Washington DC. But the trip that had the biggest impact on me was the one to Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park in Montana/Canada when I was about 14 years old.

While we were visiting Glacier Park, my dad made arrangements for a guided horseback trip to Iceberg Lake. The round trip took the good part of a day and we packed a lunch to eat at the secluded lake. My mother stayed behind in the Lodge, happy to spend the day browsing through the stores, reading, and knitting. It was an overcast, cool day as my dad, brother and I mounted our horses. Mike was in the midst of his wannabe cowboy stage and he wore a western shirt with his jeans and a cowboy hat on his head. For some unknown reason, I decided to wear a pair of white jeans with my T-shirt (the jeans were no longer white after spending the day in a saddle!). My stomach had serious butterflies initially as I felt awfully high off the ground on the large horse, and I was unfamiliar with the unique swaying motion of the horse's gait. Part of the trail we followed was on the side of a mountain and it took awhile before I learned to trust the sure-footedness of the horse as I looked with trepidation at the canyon far below. As time went on, I relaxed more into the saddle and got used to the gently hypnotic rolling motion. I got so that I could enjoy looking at the awesome panoramic views before me and the array of profusely blooming summer wildflowers gracefully carpeting the hillsides.

When we arrived at our destination, the sight of Iceburg Lake literally took my breath away. It was a small aquamarine jewel lying in a pocket surrounded on three sides by towering rock walls. True to its name, several huge snow-capped chunks of ice floated on its surface. The way the lake is situated, it rarely sees the sun, so the winter snow and ice is very slow to melt during the summer. The most striking thing about the lake was its vibrant turquoise color. It seemed bottomless, and staring into it was mesmerizing.

I felt transported into another world during that trip. It was the first time I really stopped long enough to consider and savor the beauty of nature around me. I knew without a doubt I wanted to have more experiences like this one in the future. As we ate dinner in the lodge that night, my dad struck up a conversation with our waitress. She was a friendly college student from Virginia who was employed by the park to work temporarily during the summer. She talked with my dad about Iceberg Lake and enthusiastically described other hikes she had done. She told about the fun of working with other college students from various states and making new friends. Without hesitation she described her time there as the most fantastic summer of her life. It was at that moment I decided I wanted to do the exact same thing when I got old enough. And for three summers during my college years, I did just that. Working in the parks was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life. Just as that young waitress from Virginia proclaimed, those summers were priceless.