Anyone that knows me personally knows that I take my bucket list pretty seriously. Travel has and always will be a top priority to me in my life and I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to do so. The primary reason for all this good fortune might you ask? The parents.
My parents have given me a life full of opportunity, love, and reinforcement. In addition, they set expectations that not only were realistic but that guaranteed some level of success in life. It is because of this that I have found myself in such a position to bring them on this amazing journey with us. I knew that my parents shared our bucket list endeavors so this trip to Alaska was the best of both worlds: an opportunity to check this beautiful part of the world off our list and a chance to celebrate the retirement milestone my parents will soon hit. We felt the best way to see this state was to take a cruise with Royal Caribbean beginning in Vancouver, BC. The city is breathtaking complete with modern buildings and one of the most pristine skylines you’ll ever see. We had smooth travels going into the cruise and were very happy to spend a full week on this beautiful ship. We watched the ship sail into the most colorful sunset (if only we knew each sunset after that would only get better).
We enjoyed all of the perks of the ship including the amazing dining, great staff, and wonderful shows. Our first port of call was Ketchikan (Salmon Capital of the World). We had the perfect weather as we walked around comfortably in the beautiful city. We checked out salmon in the stream, the infamous Creek Street, and Annabelle’s where we sampled some of Alaska Brewing Company’s finest brews. It was a nice relaxing day. The next port was my favorite: Hoonah, Alaska. With a population of 800 you can bet you won’t find many tourist traps here. This Icy Strait Point stop left me speechless. It was at this point of the trip I got frustrated because I couldn’t capture the beauty of this place with a photo. It is just impossible. I didn’t let that ruin my experience though as I soaked in all of the beauty around me. People give me a hard time sometimes that I don’t just “put down the camera and experience the beauty” and I would like to argue that point. Photography brings me joy, makes me happy, and presents a challenge that I embrace: to capture site that allows the viewer to really feel like they were there. I like experiencing beauty both through the camera and in real life. We walked around this beautiful city, sat for a while enjoying the view at Icy Strait Brewing Company, and watching whales play in the bay. It was the perfect day.
Juneau was our next stop which included a visit to the Red Dog Saloon (gotta have at least ONE tourist trap in there) and a hike up the West Trail of Mendenhall Glacier. This was one of the most eventful points of our trip as we climbed round trip 5 miles up steep hillside to get a close up glimpse of the massive glacier. We were promised that no bears would be seen on this trail as it is popular with locals and bears don’t like the sounds and smells of humans but they were WRONG. On our descent down the mountain, we startled one, right at 15 feet away that gazed at us for a moment before turning and retreating in the opposite direction. The trail was a challenge but we were happy to have done it as it gave us beautiful views of the waterfall and glacier we wouldn’t have seen from the overcrowded visitor center. The next port of Skagway took us up White Pass Railway as we took a rail adventure on a beautiful train. Although it was cloudy and our views were obscured we still enjoyed the beauty of this area and the relaxing train ride. We visited a brewery and did some shopping in Skagway before returning to the ship to marvel at the views leaving port. Sometimes you would forget that you were in Alaska because there were so many waterfalls coming off the mountain side you felt like you were in Hawaii. The cool weather and beautiful glaciers we passed leaving port made it impossible to leave the helipad of the ship. Another challenge of this trip was that sunsets typically occurred around 10:00-10:30PM and it felt like sunsets took HOURS to complete. The sky would stay pink and orange FOREVER. It was glorious but also painful because you knew the sun would rise again in another 5 hours (and because you want to capture it, you have to sleep less). I will admit, I spent hours sitting on the helipad taking pictures and obsessing over the view. You feel so incredibly small when you view the snow capped mountains surrounding you and see just how small your ship is compared to the landscape. It really does just leave you without words.
The ship sailed into Glacier Bay and concentrated on Hubbard Glacier. The guests on the ship flocked to the front of the boat to get a glimpse of this massive wonder. We listened as the glacier cracked and chunks fell into the water with sounds similar to thunder and enormous splashes of water. Although cloudy, the captain still managed to get our ship very close to the glacier so that we could get a good look despite all of the strong currents pushing against the ship. We have a renewed respect for the navigation of these ships, we saw many tight maneuvers completed during this trip and some that left us saying “whoa….” It was freezing outside on deck this particular morning but we didn’t let that stop us from enjoying watching the crew retrieve a large chunk of glacier ice from the bay and hoist it up on to the deck of the ship so that guests could touch it and see it. We were sad to see the trip end in Seward as we disembarked from the ship and took a drive through the most scenic of views to Anchorage. We left Anchorage all agreeing that Alaska was by far the most beautiful place we had ever seen and that we would some day return to experience more of it. We flew into Seattle where our first journey ended and our second began. We will be blogging our Seattle adventures soon.
This was the adventure of a lifetime and although I don’t feel my photos captured the true beauty of this place I am still satisfied that they will always remind me of the true joy I experienced sitting in wonder, staring at the mountains, waterfalls, and sunsets.
Seattle blog coming soon!
-Kate
