My Glacier Ball

By Mariah Smith

Hi I'm Mariah and I'm going to tell you about the time I had fun on a glacier. I guess you can say I already knew about it but I still couldn't believe it.

It was a bright beautiful day in Talkena, Alaska. My cousin and I just got back from a long bike ride. I walked into the Main Street Café, and we met my mom who was working there.

My mom was waiting for me. As soon as she saw me, she came out. My mom hopped on her bike and she and I peddled away.

We were in a hurry to get to the bush plane take-off area. We passed a graveyard, a gas station, a liquor store, a museum, and a train station. And to think we only rode for two or three blocks!

I was wearing a long shirt and long pants. When we got to the bush plane takeoff area, we walked to the front desk where we were told to wait outside.

All I saw was tiny little bush planes. I was feeling nervous. I thought, "maybe I should turn back." I asked my mom where the bigger planes were. She said that the tiny little bush plane was what we were going to fly in, to the glacier. I thought to myself, "No wonder there was a plane crash a couple of days ago and every one died."

I told my mom that I was going to bring back a snowball, but when I heard the flight was an hour long I didn't think it was possible.

I took a deep breath and stepped into the plane. I was the smallest passenger on the plane, so I sat in the back. A couple sat in the middle seats, and my mom sat in the front seat. The plane was full. All four seats where taken.

I closed my eyes as the plane took off. Soon when I open them we are high above Alaska. The flight was long, but it didn’t seem long. I looked out the window and I couldn’t believe my eyes. When I looked outside I saw the most beautiful sight in the world, the mountaintop of Denalli. It was like being in a postcard.

We passed over tiny specks of color. I asked what they were and the pilot said that it was a base camp for the climbers. We flew and flew some more. Then suddenly, "BOOM!"

"What was that," I screamed.

"Those are the skis," said the pilot.

"Good," I thought. At first I thought we were getting shot out of the sky.

Now it was time for us to land. I closed one eye. The plane began to shake. I was scared, but I knew nothing was going to happen. We landed. Then we stopped.

The doors opened and we climbed out. It wasn’t even cold outside, and we were at the top of one of the biggest mountains in the world.

The first thing I did was to take a big bite of the snow. Then I made a little snow person. One half-hour later, just before we left, I made a huge snowball. With the snowball in my hand, I climbed back in the plane. Then the plane took off.

Quite unexpectedly, by the time we had flown back to the bush plane landing area my snowball had barely melted. After we got out of the plane, my mom and I got on our bikes and rode back to the town. The first thing I did when I got back to the restaurant was put my snowball in the freezer. It is still there at this very moment, in Alaska -my glacier ball.

I had a great time and I learned that I should try new adventures, even if it is life threatening. It is still worth trying, because it may be the best experience I’ll ever have.