Alaska Trip, August 2017

Vancouver

       We landed in Vancouver but didn't do much there. We got to our hotel late at night and roamed the streets a little before we settled in for the night. At night there were a lot of homeless people passed out in various places on the street. When we woke up the next day we walked around the city, but nothing spectacular. We then boarded out cruise ship with anticipation for what was to come.
       On the cruise there wasn't too much to do. In general, we hung out in our room, painted pictures, relaxed in the pool, and ate a lot. I usually enjoy the ride, but for some reason this one wasn't as eventful.

Ketchikan

          Helicopter Ride

       We initially didn't have a plan when getting to this town, but after leaving the ship we quickly decided to go on a helicopter ride. Since our group was so large, we had to go in two separate groups. My group went first. We boarded the glass bubble helicopter and took off. We saw some goats on the surrounding mountains and there was still snow on the caps. It was something I hadn't seen before and getting a birdseye view was really cool. We also had a view of a whale breaching, something that doesn't happen often. The guide pointed out some cool growths and animals. When our 45 minutes were up, we waved off the next group and patiently waited to hear the stories they brought back.

          Indian Museum

       After the helicopter ride we went to a museum. We had to hike up a hill to get there but it was worth it. There were many wooden sculptures carved in different ways. They looked like sideways, wooden Easter Island tikis. It was pretty cool but everyone began to get fidgety so we left.

Juneau

        Glacier National Park

       We started out this day by walking on a path along a stream. The grayish salmon were flooding the small river as they were fighting the current. Nathan got in the stream and tried to catch one. He pulled up his pants, took off his shoes, and walked in the water. He couldn't catch any fish, but he did say that he felt some. 
       After this, we went to see the glacier. Surprisingly, the temperature wasn't too cold so we could wear T-shirts. The glacier was massive but we couldn't see it too well from our original location.  Instead we went on a hike to see it from a closer angle. When we got there, we were greeted by a large waterfall and rock garden. We took our pictures, embraced the area, and then hiked back to the boat.

         Whale Watching

 



     The next day we went whale watching. This experience was unlike any other I had ever had. We boarded a boat and were driven to the location. Here we saw orcas in mass and they kept coming. The crew said its been a very long time since orcas had shown up, usually they just saw humpback whales. After the orcas diverged into the ocean, we boated some more to see humpback whales. While we couldn't see any breach, it was still an amazing sight to see their tales flap out of the water. We were very lucky with this excursion.

Skagway

       Yukon
       We went on a road trip while in Skagway. We went on a bus and took off with a tour guide. We went through mountains, canyons, and passed a few lakes. Everything we saw looked virtually untouched and very serene. We saw the "Welcome to Alaska" sign and "Welcome to Yukon" sign as well. We took a lot of stops for pictures and was overall a very peaceful trip.

       Aurora Borealis

       While this wasn't as magnificent as I had hoped, it was better than nothing. We were told over the intercom that we would be able to see it in the very early hours of the morning. That night, we all took naps to prepare ourselves to wake up at 2 AM. When we woke up, we rushed through the boat to the stern to see the night sky. Seeing the sky turn green with hints of pink was something I had never seen before. The sky was black and dark blue, but there were some streaks that showed the Aurora Borealis peaking through. It was especially odd since this is in August and peak season is between September and March.

Glacier Bay

This is the Glacier Margerie. I took this picture
as we were passing by

       Glacier Bay is something we passed through on the cruise. It was cool to see the large, white glaciers contrasting their brown rocky background. The unfortunate thing, however, was that they were calving (breaking off into smaller chunks). We could see there the glaciers once rested and their decreasing size in comparison. While it was breathtaking, there were certain elements that made me gloomy when thinking about the longevity of these massive structures.

Seward

       Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

       This was really neat. Initially I was a little bummed that we didn't see any wildlife in Alaska other than the seals on islands, but this made up for it. We saw moose, bison, bears, wolves, elk, and reindeer. The animals were obviously enclosed, but there was a lot of space for grazing. It was also interesting to see the difference in black and brown bears in person. While there was some worry that we were going to miss our flight home if we spent too much time here, I still wish we could have stayed longer.

Anchorage

       We didn't do much in anchorage as it was the location of the airport. We drove through the city and went to a local shop tourist shops to find a souvenir. Other than that, we left Alaska but kept our memories.