It was amazing...Every view that we had come to known over the years of strolling had changed. So many trees were down and everywhere we turned we could see effects of the storm. Giant trees lay overturned with big roots showing and other giant trees stood unscathed. It was interesting to ponder why one tree went down while its neighbour stood standing...Much like a trailer park that just saw a tornado pass through.
Even the infamous bird feeding tree close to Third Beach was chopped in half. We didn't venture too far into the park but we didn't have to; The destruction was evident everywhere.
So many people like us were out snapping pictures and touching tree trunks...It felt somewhat expolitative but it was hard to turn back.
But life in the park went on as usual. Ducks were swimming through the trees that had crashed down into the little creek that feeds out into the ocean; raccoons were scavenging for lunch as if nothing strange had occurred and what were baby swans this summer were displaying their plumage and engaging in mating rituals all around the lagoon. It wasn't overly sad to see the downed trees but more fascinating and beautiful to see how natural this whole event essentially was and peek into the future to see how the new landscape of the park will emerge and feed off of the reinvigorated forest floor.
