Goal #38: Experience some awesome things in nature.

I have always loved being out in nature. I grew up in a small rural town on the plains of Minnesota until I was 16 years old. A river ran through the edge of my town, providing me a place to spend my free time. When school was out, I lived at the river more than I lived at home. I spent as much time as I could at the river learning everything I could about the plants and animals; the weather patterns and the changing seasons.

As I have traveled the world, I have made it a point to seek out the unusual and the awesome. I have never been disappointed. What a shame it would be to leave this life one day without having done all I within my power to see everything I can. 

Below is just a sampling of some of the remarkable and awesome things I've seen in nature.  

• Walked through the Redwood forests in Northern California’s
• Hiked through tropical jungles in the Philippine Islands, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and
   Costa Rica
• Deep sea diving off St. Thomas Island and Puerto Rico
• Lived through a tornado in Luverne, Minnesota
• Went night diving off the coast of Puerto Rico
• Lived through a tornado in Luverne, Minnesota.
• Left my body and experienced the world around me as a spirit being
• Saw a salmon run in Alaska
• Took part in the birth of each of my children
• Witnessed the completion of the 17 year development cycle of the Cicada
• Swam with the Manatees off the shores of Puerto Rico
• Watched the mass migration of caterpillars in the desert near Death Valley
• I stood inside a rainbow
• Viewed a red tide
• Watched the birth of a butterfly from the chrysalis in which it was encased.
• Experienced cold temperatures of 40degrees below zero
• Saw  5 water spouts off the coast of Puerto Rico
• Saw the migration of whales off the coast of Southern California
• Experienced a phosphorescent tide
• Experienced a red tide
• Heard the honk of thousands of migrating geese

• Soaked  in a hot pot in Yellowstone National Park

• Experienced the monsoon season in the tropics

• Saw hundreds of thousands of starling flying overhead

• Delivered a Morgan colt at birth when the mother could no longer finish the job herself

• Witnessed a night in Alaska where the night never got dark

• Saw the swarming of several wild bee hives

• Watched the birth of a bird from the egg

• Listened to Sand Hill cranes in Yellowstone National Park

• Watched lunar and solar eclipses, meteor showers and other celestial wonders

• Experienced a grunion run on Doheney Beach in Southern California

• Lived through a level 4 typhoon in the Philippine Islands

• Experienced several awesome earthquakes

• Found some Native American holy places that had the Shamanic signatures of the

   yellow-ochre X, signifying their sacred status
• Felt the unique “feeling” of running around in Goblin Valley at night during a full moon
• Saw the green flash that sometimes takes place just as the sun sets into the ocean
• Experienced a mass migration of toads in the Philippine Islands
• Heard the incredible sound of ice cracking across the surface of a frozen lake
• Took a caterpillar from larva stage to chrysalis to butterfly stage
• Watched a bird hatch from an egg
• Viewed the magic of hundreds of fire flies
• Saw tens of thousands glowing red eyes of tiny shrimp during a night dive in the tropics
• Saw a falling star break into pieces and create quite the light show
• I heard the earth speak
• Enjoyed the scorching heat and discovered life in the midst of Death Valley 
• Saw the geysers and other wonders of Yellowstone National Park

This is only a partial list. I expect this list will grow on and on over the years. I have only started to actively go out and seek the awesome things of nature in the world around me. It's like traveling; the more I experience the more I am compelled to do more.