Our first day on the road, we headed south to the Kenai Peninsula, and immediately were awestruck by the awesome beauty of the countryside.  The water, the mountains, the glaciers - it was truely amazing - and our cameras clicked furiously!   The roads are well maintained (ok, so they only have one main road through each area....), with 'turnouts' placed frequently along the shoulder.   These are for vehicles to pull over - to view the scenery - or to let other  vehicles pass.  It is unlawful to hold up more than 5 vehicles behind your own slow-moving vehicle.    We would pull off frequently at the turnouts just to snap pictures or to absorb the beauty.    Awesome is a word that doesn't even come close to describing Alaska! 

Our first night on the road, we found a National Park Service campground at the foot of a glacier, and it was beautiful.  The site was very remote, peaceful, and inexpensive!   From the motorhome, I saw movement in the trees, and was so stunned I couldn't speak - only stutter and gesture.  All 6 of us clustered around the window to watch a moose make it's way out of the trees and across the pavement, only a few feet from our motorhome.   It was enormous - as large as a horse.  Just as we adjusted to this tremendous sight, the mother moose appeared behind her calf....and we were in awe at her size.  A moose is one HUGE animal!!!   I was so taken by all of this that my camera remained in my lap - I completely forgot to take photos!!   What a way to start our trip.

The next morning, Eric and Jeremy went out for a jog, only to find out a short time later that a bear had been sighted on that same path about the same time as their jog.  We quickly realized that we were in the wilds of Alaska!