Today was not our first day in Alaska, but it was our first day immersed in Alaska as we had imagined it to be. This morning we were able to walk among the forest’s trees, paddle along the coastline in kayaks, and cruise the rugged landscape in Zodiacs to see the wildlife we had dreamed about before we arrived. It hardly seems possible that it all happened in one day, but it did. Somehow, it touched us—the water droplets clinging to the leaves and petals of a wildflower, the ancient footprints left by generations of bears, or the sound of the sea lions bellowing on their rocky perches. Whatever it was, we will no longer be the same.