Alaska Beauty Beyond Words
We traveled to Alaska this was a cruise that had been postponed several times. We had initially planned this trip for the summer of 2018 as a 90th birthday for my gift for my father in law it was on his bucket list. Unfortunately he passed away before we got to go. With the loss so fresh in our minds we decided to cancel the trip and do it at a later time. After about a year we rebooked the cruise for the summer of 2020 we all know what happened in early 2020 so needless to say it was rescheduled actually twice . We finally sailed in late July 2022 . And it worth the wait I have often heard that its beauty in beyond words and I am hear to tell you it truly is even pictures can’t how its true beauty . It is also a place that is very humbling. Are first stop was Ketchikan we didn’t book anything for this ad instead just got off the ship and walked around the small town it was a slightly overcast rainy day but we saw some awesome totem poles watched people fishing for salmon in the in the creek saw when it started raining a little harder we happened to spot Bawden Street brewing and stopped in for a couple of incredible local brew and great conversation to the 2 young men working and other patrons.
Thegave us a recommendation on a place to grab some lunch then did a little shopping for a ulu knife which we had sent home then we stopped into a local distillery for a couple drinks before heading back to the ship . Highlights of the trip was the Glacier Explorer Juneau we actually debated this one as it was a expensive excursions as most are in Alaska . A large catamaran of sorts pulls up to the cruise ship just as it was approaching Dawes Glacier those of us on the excursion boarded the catamaran which took us for a up close view of the Glacier as the cruise ship turned around and headed on to Juneau were we met up with it just a it was docking. We spent about 30 to 40 min extremely close to the Glacier we saw calving and heard what they call Glacier thunder as large pieces fall in the bay. On the cruise bac to the ship we stopped at several huge waterfalls and stopped to watch several whales we actually saw one wave his tail at us. This excursion was booked thru the cruise line and was sold out long before we sailed. We met up in Juneau with the ship grabbed a quick bite and we were off again for our afternoon excursion which was a helicopter trip to Herbert Glacier thru Coastel Helicopter tours they offer several different excursions we booked dogsledding with addition glacier landing I highly recommend Coastel this we booked on own and saved $100 pp and also got the extra stop as we felt confident that we would make it back to the ship before sail away for those of you that haven’t cruised before the ship does not wait for guests that are late getting back unless your on a ship sponsored tour so don’t be late if your doing something on your own . This was such a fun experience and being on a glacier with only 6 other people is truly humbling we got to go dogsledding with a female musher with her team that she ran the Iditarod with it was about a mile and half run and we took turns standing and sitting in several spots we also had time to pet the dogs when we were done we had a few minutes to hold husky puppies . Next stop was to another part of the Glacier we had about 10-15 min to walk around and the pilot filled out water bottles with glacier water. The next day was Skagway an old mining town alot of people take the railroad up to the Canadian boarder. I let Steve my husband pick the excursion for this day . He decided we should take the ferry to Haines Alaska and do a float trip thru the Eagle Preserve . My thought upon hearing this was we have plenty of eagles in MN but if that is what you want to spend the day doing ok that’s what we will do. I couldn’t have been more wrong I was in aww of all of these majestic birds I stopped counting managed to get a few great pictures but mostly just enjoyed the beauty . We will definitely be planning another trip to Alaska except next tip we will mostly fly in rent a RV and explore on our own. Attached are a few picture but truest me they don’t do it justice. If Alaska isn’t on your bucket list it should be.
