Mr. Moose lives in the trees behind our trailer. He saunters out and strolls between the trailers in the park, ambling down the drives. He stops to munch some alder bushes. He stops to have his photo taken, allowing us to get about ten feet from him before he decides to move on. He lies down in the drive to take a nap in the mid-day sun. If he feels like it, he'll get up and move when you honk your horn at him. He acts like he owns the place.

Maybe he does! We've been spending the winter RVing in Alaska, on the Kenai Peninsula, near Seward. The RV park we're staying in is a few miles out of town. It was the moose's territory long before humans decided to develop it. But, as in much of Alaska, people and wildlife
live together in harmony.

The bald eagles are as majestic as you might imagine. They perch on top of the towering spruce trees and look over the park. It is as if they know they are the symbol of our country and they have a great job to do in guarding and protecting us. They routinely treat us to swoop and dive
shows. They'll swoon down low, dipping to within a few feet of a vehicle. Their wing spreads are grand. 

Ravens and magpies also call our park home. The magpies are an effervescent midnight blue-black that glisten in the sun with rainbow colors that remind me of oil on water. They have pure white markings for contrast. Ravens make an astonishing number of sounds and are favored in Native lore.

We're only a few miles from the waters of Resurrection Bay. The bay waters here do not freeze during the winter and we can watch much sea life from shore. We've seen gray humpback whales, pods of 40 or more Stellar sea lions, seals, and sea otters. They come in close to feed on the schools of herring. 

The seals and sea lions frolic. In ways, they remind me of a litter of playful kittens, bouncing up and down, pushing and shoving and rolling around each other. But the sounds of these playful pods are not at all like cute kittens. They sound like a bunch of rude old men who've spent
too long at the local beer joint and are feverishly belching with great abandon!

The views in Alaska are spectacular any time of the year, but are even more so in the winter. On cold winter mornings, the trees look as though someone dipped them in whipped egg whites and generously sprinkled them with sugar crystals. The sky is crayon blue, broken with the projection of grandiose mountains. 

What are we, full-time RVers who could have gone south where it is warm for the winter, doing in Alaska during these months of freezing weather? 

We came up to Alaska last summer and played tourist. We had a wonderful time, saw a lot of the state, and learned a lot about Alaska life and culture. But fall came and we had not seen, traveled, and learned as much about our country's forty-ninth state as we wanted to. So, we made what was for us the logical choice - stay for the winter and continue our journey here. We discovered we love Alaska in the winter! 

I am writing this the beginning of April. We have completed our first winter in the Great Land. Once again, we have more hours of light than darkness each day. The sun shines brightly most days and snow piles that were once higher than our trailer are shrinking. Spring break-up is just
around the corner. 

I look out my trailer window as I write this. The setting sun has turned the snow covered mountain a luscious shade of ripe mango. One of the eagles is on guard. I'm trying to concentrate on writing, but my mind drifts between admiring the view and thinking about where my RV home will be parked in a couple of weeks. We've spent the winter here, sharing this RV park with moose and eagles, but it will soon be time for us to move on.