Through My Eyes

Recently, I and my father spent a day going to a few parks and hiking, enjoying the nice weather we were blessed with. This was on the last nice day of January, right before our plunge back into proper Iowa weather. We started out slightly past noon, with our sights set on Palisades-Kepler State Park and a lunch packed and our dog ready for a few hour of hiking. Before you even enter Palisades, you have to go on a bit of a journey. This journey is the twisting road that leads to the riverside where the park is situated. The first bit of this road is an uphill climb that's relatively straight. However, once you crest the hill, there are curves and turns all the way to the park. The road shows off the parks natural wonders, the steep sides of valleys and an abundance of trees which has a canopy that blocks out the sun when you’re under it. If you look closely enough, you can even see a trickle of water running through a few of the valleys. If you’re lucky, you may also see some ...

What's that? You don't know what a "Winter Firefly" is? Well then, let me quickly educate you. "Winter Fireflies" aren't bugs, but are in truth ice particles. The term "Winter Fireflies" is one I came up with to describe these particles, and it seems like a very fitting name. Whenever light shines on these particles, they reflect it, but in such a way that only a fraction of the light is reflected back into our own eyes. For a short moment, thousands of particles reflect light, creating a display much like one you would expect to see some warm summer night. This is the reason I named them "Winter Fireflies". These ice particles appear much like snow flurries. They are similar in appearance to these wisps of white, and come with snow storms. I do not know if there’s a scientific name for them, and plan on looking into it further when I have more time.  Now that I have explained these ice-formed creatures, let me tell you a short s...