My Alaska Adventure

For today’s Where in the World Wednesday post, I thought I would share a little bit about the activities we did on our adventure to Alaska.

 

We did a seven day cruise leaving out of Seattle.  We stayed at the Hotel Crown Plaza the day before the cruise and I highly recommend that hotel if you are planning on cruising from Seattle.  It was located  within walking distance to all the major Seattle attractions ( including Pike Place Market) and had great views of the water and the Space Needle. We visited Pike Place, but didn’t really tour the city as we were only there for a day. This was my second time visiting Seattle. The first time I was there for a longer period of time and may do a post on that visit later.

We traveled in June and the temperature in Alaska was between 60’s-70’s. Some days it was warmer than others because the sun was shining, and some days it was a bit breezy.  I stayed comfortable in pants and long sleeves.

Our first stop was in Ketchikan. It was a bit rainy the day we stopped here. Ketchikan is a tiny fishing village. We spent the afternoon exploring the shops, watching wood carvers, and learning about totem poles and other Alaskan artifacts. One of our friends we traveled with was brave enough to try zip lining here, but not me, I couldn’t bring myself to do that.

 

The next stop was Juneau.  Here the main attraction was Mount Roberts.  If you are not afraid of heights, you might want to take the tram way the 1800 foot ascent up the mountain.  Once there, Mount Roberts has trails for every level of hiking ability, A cultural center,  shopping, dining, and wildlife.

 

We also sailed to a glacier this day.  Our friends we traveled with flew to a dog mushing camp on top of a glacier to ride on the dog sleds.  Since I like dogs I of course thought this would be fun, but as soon as I heard the only way to get there was in a helicopter, I was out!

My favorite Day in Alaska was the day we spent in Skagway.   The village of Skagway is literally on one touristy street. The town even closes when tourist season is over.

 

This is where I had my first sighting of Sarah Palin! haha 

This is where we also road the White Pass and Yukon Trail Rail Road. 

 

 This was so much fun!  I liked it because I am a history buff.  If you like learning about history, you would like this too.  We boarded the train in Skagway at elevation 0 ( because we started at sea level) and traveled through Coast Mountains Tongass National Forest and up to the White Pass Summit, elevation 2,865 ft.  In addition to seeing some of the most beautiful scenery and wildlife (we stopped to see a bear cub), we also were told stories about the Gold Rush. This was the main route for prospectors searching for gold to get to Klondike (where all the gold was suppose to be)!

 

 

Another fun activity we did was the Whale Watching and Marine Life Tour. This took place on Prince Rupert Island which technically is in British Columbia, Canada.  Of course I would like this activity because I got to see animals.  It was amazing seeing the Whale breech. We got close enough to see several of them. My photography skills aren’t such that I could catch it at the time of breeching, so this is all I could get.

 

On one of the islands we saw sea lions. This was the first time I’ve ever seen whales or sea lions in their natural habitat. Of course I’ve seen them at zoo’s and other parks such as Sea World and such, but it was really cool seeing them like this.

 

I was surprised to see that some of them were tatooed with numbers on them. They must be under watch!

 

I admit I was not thrilled about going to Alaska. I’m a warm weather gal and would have preferred to go somewhere warm, but I knew my husband wanted to go so this was a birthday present for him.  I now have to admit that it was a really good time and the scenery (even while cruising) was just phenomenal.   ~M

Have you ever been to Alaska? Would you ever want to go?

Have you ever gone somewhere you weren't thrilled about going to and ended up really liking it?