I have always loved nature. Any kind of nature. It never ceases to amaze me how it all unfolds season after season. You would think everyone would love nature. I mean, how could they not? Yet I see beautiful meadows one year and the next it is filled with a subdivision.
I use to live in Park City, Utah and when I first went there in the early 80’s there was one traffic light and one gas station. My husband and I were living in New York City at the time but were celebrating an anniversary and decided to take a drive up into the mountains after visiting his folks in Salt Lake City. We decided to go to Park City on a whim as we heard it was a beautiful spot. We stopped at the one gas station in town where there was a phone booth and the town’s phone book. There were no cell phones, no computers, no GPS, well, no nothing. We found a listing of Stein Eriksen Lodge (heaven in the mountains it said in the book) and decided to give it a shot.
After a long, winding drive up into what seemed like forever we came across a beautiful Swiss alps designed lodge nestled into a spectacular setting of snow kissed mountains. There was nothing else there but this lodge and because it was off season no one else was there. The restaurant was serving a traditional eight course European meal and each table had overstuffed armchairs. There was a blazing fire in the fireplace and the snow glisten outside our beautiful picture window.
Waking up in to morning and sitting on our deck I saw a herd of deer coming down the mountains. I turned to my husband and said that someday I would love to live here where nature and civilization seemed to learn how to live together. Ten years later we moved to Park City and our house had a view of the mountains from every window. I loved it. All ten years of it.
But life changed and it seemed more realistic to move to Los Angeles as my work was taking me there more and the commute was getting more difficult. Park City was growing too fast for my taste and civilization was taking over nature with large stores and wide highways. The phone booth was gone and Stein Eriksen Lodge was no longer the only thing in Deer Valley. In fact the deers were becoming less and less and man was becoming more and more.
This past weekend I spent with my sister on her five acres in Northern California. Looking out the window this morning I spotted a deer sitting among the trees. I thought of my house in Park City and how much I missed it and how much I loved nature. It gives me such a sense of calm and happiness. No planes, no cars, no construction. Just the sweet face of a deer and the gentle singing of the birds. That is the nature of the beast I love.