I didn't take the picture, so words will have to do.

Live in Alaska for long enough and the once wondrous starts losing it's color. Becomes commonplace. Things that would make the tourists gawk, we take in stride. But sometimes we see things that rip away our jaded sourdough facade.

I only had one thing planned for this evening and it was not the State of the Union address. It was a photographer's group meeting and I was running late. Having snowed again today, the roads sucked. And the two driving surfaces were boggy snow or slick smooth ice. I'm on a main road with three lanes on my side of the snowy divider. in a curvy section that is not well lit, my car is climbing a gentle slope and I spot three lit road flares on the icy middle lane. They make kind of a V shape to guide drivers around the blockage. My first thought was a fender-bender and I automatically start looking for munched cars. Nada. But as I'm nearing the flares, I can see that they are definitely marking something. A dark mass. Part of a wreck that hasn't been towed? The shape starts to resolve itself. It's a moose on it's side. Young adult. Dead (I'm pretty sure). I can't take my eyes off of it as I drive past. It's still snowing lightly and a fine layer has gathered on it's fur.

Dark icy roadway. Red flares. Dead moose. Falling snowflakes.

It would have made an excellent photo. It only took me a couple seconds to realize that. But I decided to drive on. In part because of the meeting; partially due to the danger of standing in the middle of an unlit busy road to get the shot that I would not have been satisfied to take from the curb.

Later, sitting in my plastic and chrome stackable chair downtown, listening to a guy talk about infrared cameras used for oil pipeline diagnostics on the North Slope, all I could think about was the stiffening snow-covered limbs of that moose.

And the road flares.