Our last nature experience was so amazing, I couldn’t help but write a book about it!

The coolness of the morning breeze teased our fall loving spirits as we sauntered through the woods until we met the waters edge. Never knowing what nature has planned for us, we sat in silence, breathing in the cold morning air. With no sign of movement around, my senses were guided to the sound of the surrounding rushing waters. I remembered a time before we met our beaver family, when everything was new, and how grateful I was to call such a beautiful place home. I was brought back to the simplicity of the present moment, and my heart smiled.

Through the cloudless sky the morning sun began to rise, warming the cool misty fog, and lifting it high above the pines. I looked and saw Maynard making his way back towards the lodge! I was not expecting this!  Soon enough, the entire beaver family had made it home after a night of exploring beneath the full moon. They weren’t quite ready to go to bed, though. Raine and River swam around, coming so close to us, we could hear the sound of Raine diving underwater over the loudness of the rushing water. She resurfaced and started sniffing the air. At first I thought it was us that she was curious about.

I have often wondered if the otters (or an otter) lived in any of the holes along the shoreline. On this morning, I was finally gifted my answer - yes! An otter appeared and said hello, but immediately disappeared. We didn’t expect to see it again. I glanced back over towards the lodge to see the entire family splashing about, playing and being so dang cute just doing beaver stuff!

While the beavers continued being adorable, the otter popped up again and headed towards the log for a morning stretch. It was so hard to decide what to shoot! I was going back and forth between beaver family and otter log, beaver family, otter log. What a fun predicament to have! Soon Maynard, Alice, and River made their way towards the otter log and began wrestling around some more. So cute! After a lovely log stretch, and the beavers making their presence known, the otter said goodbye and went off to begin its morning hunt. Baby Raine was so adorable and childlike as she would ride the current downstream, swim back up, and do it over and over again.

After a bit, I looked downstream and saw someone eye level with me, chowing down in the rushing current. Baby Raine glided by one last time and stopped to hide behind a rock along the shoreline, eating nearby grasses. Alice and River (nearing maturity) are getting hard to tell apart, and I can only really identify them by behavior or at certain angles. I took a few photos, decided I wanted to brave the snakes, and snuck downstream when the beaver went underwater to grab another mossy handful of breakfast.

At first I thought this was Alice, but the immaturity of River shone through as I was able to get SO CLOSE! River must be growing because he would NOT stop eating! Mouthful after mouthful, downstream a bit .. mouthful after mouthful, downstream a bit .. until finally he was full enough, and headed back towards the lodge. It was then I was able to see the tail, which was completely in tact. Alice has a piece missing. This was for sure big brother River and little Raine eating breakfast in the rushing waters! It amazes me how strong they are! It also amazes me how tiny they look on top of the water and how HUGE they are underneath!

Soon after River headed home, baby Raine decided it was time to slowly head back. She lazily made her way upstream, stopping for handfuls of food here and there, before she said goodnight to the morning light. What an incredible experience!!