Alaska was amazing. I never thought I would enjoy a trip like this, but it was so beautiful that I definitely want to return there someday. It's just way too "bush" for me to ever live there- especially with 20 hrs of darkness in the winter. NOPE.
Anyways, the first day flying there seemed to take forever. It was my H's first long flight and he was worried that our luggage would get lost. Thankfully, it did not. We arrived in Anchorage that night and this is the view you get stepping out of the airport:
We were able to go out to eat at the coolest pub called Moose's Tooth that night. It was within walking distance of our hotel and Anchorage isn't the type of city that you should be afraid to walk in at night, especially since it's daylight lol but let me just say if you can try an Alaskan beer- do it! So delicious.
Rainbow at 10:30 at night
The next morning we woke up early to take the Alaska Railroad. It's a really cool daytrip because it's narrated and the windows for nature viewing are ginormous. This was probably one of my fav excursions because I love learning history and all that.
The next day was time for our cruise! We spent the day in Seward, AK which basically is a super small town that looks like a junkyard littered with bald eagles. We wandered to the safeway until it started raining and then headed back to the ship and I napped the entire afternoon. H walked around the ship, made friends with a couple bartenders and made our dinner reservation for the night.
Our first day was so fucking cold. We sailed through the Yukutat Bay towards Hubbard Glacier. It was windy and cold, probably around 40 degrees. I spent about 30 minutes at the bow of the ship (like Jack and Rose) starring down the glacier as we approached; but then got super cold and wind burnt so H traded with me. We stayed at the glacier for a few hours- but I needed a coffee or a bowl of soup the entire time. NE even got more snow than Alaska did this winter- but you wouldn't know based on how I was feeling lol
The next day was spent in a port called Hoonah, Icy Strait Point. It's where the Alaskan Bush People are from. Small town with more bears than people. And it's true! We saw a family of bears on the shore. Anyways, we took a whale watch excursion that was so much fun! And it wasn't even cold compared to the day before- probably a balmy 55-60! We saw humpback whales, orcas, sea lions, deer and bears!
BEARS!
FREE WILLY!
Love this pic. From Misty Bay Lodge- where the bush peeps eat their meals.
The following day was spent in Juneau. We woke up super early before all of the tours headed to Mendenhall Glacier Park. We took a taxi at 7:30 and got there at 8am. The park was empty except for a few others who rented cars there. I was so glad we made it early because I didn't want pics with tons of other people in the background. And it's nice to witness nature in some form of peaceful silence.
Later we ate King Crab- don't miss out on this if you go to Alaska! It's a must. In the afternoon our ship choose to cruise to Sawyer Glacier at Tracy Arm Fjord. It was so beautiful! Very cold again, so I had extra layers and gloves on.
1 lb of king crab in each leg. Ridiculous. And so delicious.
Tracy Arm Fjord
Iceberg- it's so blue
I'm a dork
Sawyer glacier is really blue
The next day we were in Skagway. This was such a long day. We drove up into the Yukon of Canada. It took us about 6 hours roundtrip. The good thing is that there's only one road so you cannot get lost. It's just super foggy and windy everywhere so I was scared going around the big cliffs and curves of the Klondike highway. We stopped at several pretty spots,"Welcome" signs and visited a farm in the Yukon with husky puppies, goats and a cool taxidermy museum. On the way home we stopped at a desert...it was the weirdest thing to see such different climates and landscapes.
the continental divide, right before the clouds rolled through.
Husky puppies!
It was spitting rain and howling wind. But we needed to get this pic on the way back.
The next day we stopped in Ketchikan. I just love saying that name. It was such a cute town. Lots of salmon fishing and lumberjacks. We ended up shopping at some of the tourist shops (I needed another hoodie/sweatpants and my H needed an extra pair of socks lol). After that we took a floatplane (small 6 seater beaver plane) trip to Misty Fjords national monument. It was such a crazy plane ride; I don't know if I could do it again with all of the curves and dips. But, the fjord was absolutely breathtaking. We saw lakes on top of mountains! Crazy. The pilot landed on the water in the middle of the fjord and asked out to get out and stand on the platoons. I was so scared!! But I did it- even though there was hardly anything to hold on to. I thought I was going to fall in- for real.
downtown area
I was scared.
The last full day on the ship was through the inside passage. I relaxed the entire day in my new hoodie and sweatpants with a glass of champagne in my hand haha! Lots of scenery to view and I was just glad we were able to relax before we spent the end of our trip in Vancouver.
oh yeah
Vancouver is a cool city. H didn't like how dirty it was, but he's not a city person at all. It wasn't even really dirty- in my opinion anyways. We walked the entire city between the two days. We visited Stanley Park, Olympic Cauldron, Steam clock, Chinatown and even a couple smoke shops/cafes since they were everywhere. And if you love sushi, you will love Vancouver. It was so fresh and so cheap. I would take a vacation out there again just to go on a sushi tour lol
Olympic Torch
walking around stanley park
view of coal harbor and the city
I'm sorry that this post is forever long, but I had so many pictures. Plenty of nature pictures too. If you want to see more just send me a PM!