My parents’ winter-house rests along the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet in Anchorage, Alaska. The water way hosts the second largest tidal range in the world at 38.9 feet, with tides rushing to cross the distance at 15 miles per hour. The water speeds in so quickly it creates a wall of water several feet high speeding up the Arm to bring in the tide. These walls of water are called “bore tides.” Anchorage, Alaska carries a record bore tide fifteen feet high.

My sister Melanie and I awoke this morning, bundled up for the frozen air and walked the grasslands along the Arm in front of my parents’ house as the sun came up slowly. Living this far north the sunrise lasts for an extended period of time in winter.The Turnagain Arm splits us from the mountains in these photos, with the tide carrying ice flow tens of miles as the water flows in and out twice daily. (The rough ground in the distance of these images is broken ice flow several feet tall resting on the mudflats at low tide.)

Here are photos. Melanie snapped the picture that includes me, the rest are mine.

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