(Above picture, Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia)

The above title applies to me. Maybe you can relate as well. All my life I have had a love for beaches growing up on the coast of Texas. Over time, I traveled to the mountains and developed a love for them as well. I have been amazed by the plateaus of northern New Mexico. Through various travels I developed an appreciation for hills, valleys, and plains.

But it was not until a few years ago I started to really appreciate marshlands.

What is a marshland? A formal definition would describe a marshland as a transition zone between land and water, often the ocean. The water in the marsh is usually shallow with pockets of tall, wavy grass. Unlike swamps, they rarely have trees. Often, there will be a boardwalk to cross over them which sits just a few feet above the water and grassy areas. In some cases, the boardwalk is serving as a passageway to a beach.

According to a National Geographic article found at this link, there are three types of marshlands including salt marshes, tidal freshwater marshes, and inland freshwater marshes. The benefits of marshes are that they buffer stormy seas, slow shoreline erosion and offer shelter and nesting sites for regulatory birds. They are often a good spot for seeing bird species rarely seen.

To me, they have a beauty and mystic that differentiates them from the other landscapes I noted above – beaches, mountains, plateaus, and valleys. Their colors change dramatically with a sunset or even when a cloudy sky becomes sunny or vice versa.

The first time I slowed down to really take notice of a marshland occurred on a trip to Maine, a few years ago. I was amazed with the marshlands in Maine, a landscape which I had never taken the time to appreciate. Within the past year, on a trip to Rockport, TX, we visited the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, which reminded me that we have beautiful marshes here on the Texas Coast. Back in May, I saw marshes along the northern coast of Nova Scotia, just north of Halifax at the Lawrencetown Beach (pictured above). More recently, I experienced marshes on the Bolivar Peninsula which sits on the other side of the ferry ride from Galveston.

Maybe you already have an appreciation of the marshland landscape. If not, next time you see one, take some time to take it all in. You might be surprised.

(Aransas Wildlife Refuge, Texas Coast)

(Wells, Maine, inside the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge)

(Bolivar Peninsula, Texas Coast)