I've
always wanted to adventure through Alaska. The vastly unexplored
mountains, well-preserved wildlife, and icy blue glaciers have always
drawn me towards this scenic state. This summer, we had 2 weeks off from
dental school chaos so finally we decided to make an Alaska adventure
into reality. We booked our (first ever) seven day cruise, checked off
our shopping list, and headed to Alaska for the first time.
Anchorage:
Our
first stop was Anchorage, Alaska. We stayed at the Hyatt, a lovely
hotel with a huge breakfast buffet. Having a car was especially useful
in Anchorage for sightseeing and planning our schedule accordingly. It
was pretty chilly our first 2 days and rainy! Funny enough, our first
stop in this lovely city was to a nearby Costco, for rain jackets for my
parents who didn't pack them. After we drove to Alyeska, about an hour
away, with sporadic stops to check out scenery and take photographs.
At
Aleska, we bought tickets for a short gondola ride that overlooked
mountains and trees below. Seeing that it was very rainy and incredibly
foggy we didn't see much below except during our short hike that we took
right after. Still, we kept our eyes peeled for any bears or moose that
could be around.
The
next day in Anchorage we drove to Byron Trail which was a hike that led
to a beautiful glacier. I've never seen so much blue ice! My first
glacier I've ever seen. It was rainy, again. Luckily I brought my yellow
rain jacket to help keep my clothes dry.
Cruise:
On
our last day in Anchorage, we drove to Seward to board our ship. We
bought our tickets for Holland America Zaandam. When we first saw our
ship we got a little worried - it was pretty small for a cruise ship.
Frantic, we drove to the store to buy motion sickness pills. Luckily,
the ship wasn't too rocky so we didn't need them. But it was nice to
know we had them on hand if we ever did.
The
first day on the cruise was spent on the boat. This was the number one
downfall of having booked with a cruise since our family isn't used to
being on others schedules and spending a full day on a boat. With that
being said, it was the compromise we needed to have in order to see the
beautiful cities that would follow.
Glacier Bay:
My
sisters and I all agree this was one of the most gorgeous scenes we've ever seen! The day started out foggy but as we entered Glacier
Bay the sun came out and we're so glad it did! One
amazing thing was seeing the glaciers "caving." When the cruise docked
near the largest glacier, we all got quiet and could hear the ice
falling (caving) creating potential new glaciers over years. The
rumbling of ice and snow could be heard all throughout the cruise. We
sat outside happily watching the glaciers with our pumpkin soup
all
day.
Haines:
A
small quaint city. Imagine a city of less than 2 thousand people. Yup that small. A
number of people from our cruise went to the city next door (Skagway)
but we decided to hike in Haines. We hiked towards the beach area and
even saw some bald eagles on the way!
Juneau:
The
capital of Alaska... and one of the highlights of our trip to say the
least. We booked a whale watching excursion! It
started with a hike to Mendenhaal Glacier and Nugget Falls. It was wet
and rainy and cold but worth it! By now, our family was used to the cold
and we don't let a little rain stop us from hiking.
After,
our bus picked us up and we headed towards the boat to whale watch. Our
instructors were named Jeremiah and Jeremy, and they were as
knowledgeable as they were funny. Jeremy was a marine biologist and told
us all about how whales eat and use baleen made of keratin to eat since they don't have teeth. Interesting, guess a whale
will never need a dental student ;)
When
we got to the middle of the ocean where the whales feed, we got outside
the boat and watched patiently. It wasn't too long before we saw our
first whale. Just like our instructor described, we saw the whales move
face down to eat so we saw their backs and fins come above water.
Their fins are the "fingerprints" of whales so we saw them exhale using
their spouts too! By the end of the excursion, we saw about 6 whales. A
wonderfully great experience!
Ketchikan:
Our
last stop on our cruise was at the colorful and vibrant city of
Ketchikan. We did all our souvenir shopping here, since the streets were
full of locally owned Alaskan shops. Some great purchases were Alaskan
knives, a deep purple arrowhead, a couple of ulus, a cozy sweater, and
of course a mug to add to my collection! We walked around and enjoyed
the Alaskan scenery for one last day before heading home.
Have any of you been to Alaska? What cities did you see and how was your experience?
Stay sweet,
Nesreen
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