Call of the Wild: Decatur woman celebrates 60th birthday with Alaska journey
By Catherine Godbey | Living 50 Plus
See bears up close. Check.
See a male moose in the wild. Check.
For her 60th birthday, DeAnn Meely checked the two items off her bucket list as she traveled to Alaska with her husband and daughter this past summer.
The trip represented an opportunity for the Decatur artist to study wildlife — one of her lifelong loves.
“My dad’s side of the family is part Seminole Indian. I have always felt a connection to wildlife. I feel connected to something that is bigger than I am,” Meely said. “The first time I saw bears in Alaska, I almost teared up.”
Meely planned the 11-day journey to coincide with when the salmon were spawning.
“I just kept thinking, there has to be some way an old lady from Decatur, Alabama, can get to see bears up close. I worked with Alaska Tour & Travel. They said to wait until the salmon are spawning heavily — if you go too early or too late you could miss them — and then take a seaplane out of Anchorage to the wilderness,” Meely said. “So that’s what we did.”
Armed with Dramamine and sea bands, Meely, her husband and daughter flew on a seaplane to Lake Clark National Park & Preserve and took a pontoon boat onto Crescent Lake.
During the day trip, Meely saw 20 to 24 black bears and coastal brown bears, including a mother with her cub. She also saw harbor seals, juvenile eagles and, on the flight back to Anchorage, a beluga whale.
“That was a really good day,” Meely said. “The guides said it was one of the most fruitful days. It was such a beautiful day and so very moving.”
Evidence of Meely’s trip is currently on display in her art studio on Bank Street. There is a painting of a close up of a bear’s face, a painting of the back of a bear and a painting of a bear standing in the water. She also plans on painting the mother bear and her cub.
“There’s a connection for me when I’m painting from pictures that I took. Since I felt the whole wow of the moment, it is easier for me to paint what I saw. Now that I’ve seen the bears, they just fall off my brush,” Meely said. “There’s something about being able to observe animals in their natural habitat. It makes me a better artist.”
Along with the day on Crescent Lake, Meely went to Prince Edward Sound, Denali and the Wrangell Mountains. She saw eagles, seagulls, caribou, a male moose, puffin, humpback whales and calves, otters and the Columbia Glacier.
During the trip, Meely took around 3,000 photos, including 1,200 pictures of bears.
“The photos are great studies for me. I shoot to see the details. I shoot to see what an eagle’s claw looks like or what a bear’s muzzle looks like,” Meely said. “I took one photo of a bear and he reminded me of the wolf in ‘Little Red Riding Hood.’ That photo showed me to be really aware of their muzzles when I’m painting or they may look like wolf faces.”
Now, Meely’s art studio displays paintings inspired by two Alaska journeys. Her first trip to Alaska, a 14-day journey, occurred in 2022 with her husband and another couple.
On that trip she hiked to a glacier, took a train to Seward, stopped at a salmon hatchery where the salmon were thick enough to walk on, rode down the Dalton Highway featured on “Ice Road Truckers,” visited North Pole, Alaska, saw reindeer, eagles, orcas, harbor seals, sea lions, otters, a grizzly stalking a caribou, a female moose, humpback whales and mosquitoes as big as dragonflies.
“This country is so vast. And Alaska is so beautiful. I know a lot of people cruise to Alaska, but I’m not a cruising girl. If I get off somewhere and I’m having a good time, I don’t want to get back on. I definitely like to take more active vacations,” Meely said.
On that trip, Meely took more than 4,000 photographs, including 500 to 600 photographs of eagles flying and perched.
“The eagles surrounded us at Prince Edward Sound. There were so many of them. I’ve been to Guntersville, which is awesome, and got so excited when I saw an eagle. I sat there for five hours just waiting for the eagle to fly. In Alaska, everywhere I turned, there was an opportunity to take a picture of an eagle. It was breathtaking,” Meely said.
The day she returned home, she knew she wanted to go back.
“Now I hope to make a third trip to Alaska. I would love to stay somewhere, bring my easel and paint on location. That would be ideal. I also would love to go to Juneau and Ketchikan, then go up and see the Northern Lights and figure out how to see polar bears. My husband wants to go back and fish. I’m not sure how fair that is. All you have to do is put a bucket in the water,” Meely said.
Along with returning to Alaska, Meely hopes to travel to Africa to see elephants and lions.
“I love being in nature and seeing animals in their natural habitat. Don’t disturb, just observe,” Meely said. “I feel so attached to these animals, specifically birds of prey. When I’m in an artistic rut, I’ll just paint an eagle and it helps me find my vision.”