Alaska: 7 days at The Last Frontier

Visiting Alaska had always been on the bucket list for my wife and I.  So last week we embarked the last cruise of the year to Alaska on the Crown Princess ship.  The ship departed from Seattle on a beautiful sunny day, I was told don’t get used to it.  Seattle is normally a rainy city.  Must be my lucky day to capture a photo of Mount Rainier.

Sunrise photos of Alaska is definitely something worth waking up for.  Although it is much easier if you are jet lag like we are from Boston.  There are no better way to start a day than watching the soaring sun rise into the sky.  However, the sun quickly hide behind the clouds for the rest of the day.  

At the first port of call Juneau we booked a helicopter ride to the glacier.  It was a 15 minute helicopter ride to the top of the glacier.  The helicopter landed on top of the glacier and we walked on what feels like a different planet.  A planet with cracks and holes in the ground that can extend 100 feet deep into the ground.  The water from the moving stream taste nothing like bottled “glacier water”, it tasted like enhanced water.  

Back to earth we stopped by Tracy’s King Crab Shack.  The soup was amazing and the crab was very fresh.  The waiter that brought us our food has a very unique sense of humor.  If you are in Juneau for any reason, this place is a must. 

Excursion #2 in Juneau.  After the crab shack I was tired and almost wanted to skip the dog sledding.  But I’m glad I stuck with it.  If you are a dog person, this excursion should be on your bucket list.  These dogs love their job, and they are proud of themselves.  Our Musher and guide were both great people, they love their dogs and it shows.  Although the ride is a short one, I got to play with some of the pups before leaving the camp.  

Alaska is famous for its wild life.  And during this trip we got to experience some of the wild Alaska that we came to see.  Bald Eagle, Brown Bear, Whales, Seal Lions were only some of the wild life that we saw.  One of the highlight of the trip was a Humpback Whales Jumping out of the water, it was a scene that I will never forget.   Kudos to our bus driver in Haines who made a last minute turnaround to see the bear one last chance.  

The highlight on the ship is probably visiting Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve.  This is the place where if you have someone imagine what Alaska was like, this would be their first thought.  And the actual scene was no different.  Every mountain is as picturesque as the last.  It was magical when a piece of the glacier collapsed.  You can hear the crowd from the ship roar like a rock star has entered the stage.  Although during most of our trip it was cloudy, for some reason when we entered this National Park the Sun decided to come out and shine on the mountain like it was welcoming us.  

As we started to departed the picturesque National Park, there were still plenty of beautiful scenery to capture.   

At Ketchikan due to weather being too rough, our fishing excursion was cancelled.  Instead of that we joined a plane ride tour.  Alaska from above looks like a different place.  Something smaller, something more vulnerable.  The hole on the last photo is a air hole, turn it around to allow air comes in.  It came in handy when I got a little motion sickness.     

What made this trip memorable were the people that we met on the ship.  Ray from the photo class.  Jeremy, Brandon, Miranda, Randy and Antoinette from happy hour.  Curtis and Kaitlan from Utah, let me know how you are doing with your Dog days Pet Pampering, send me photos of cute puppies!  Steve and Josie which we always bump into each other.  Darren and Charleene our dinner mate.  Rich from MA, we’ll be in touch.  Judith!  I never got Judith’s contact information, if you see this please send me an email to say hi.  Donna, hope you and your sisters had a good time.  Chris from photo class.  Sean and Taylor that we met in Haines, the trip was definitely more memorable because of you two, thank you for showing us around in Seattle.  Pat, Paul, Dave and Karen from the plane ride, it made what can be a bad motion sickness more bearable.  To Cindy and Steve from breakfast, I think I finally remembered your names.  

I’d love to hear from you, leave a comment below!