Our cruise left out of Vancouver, Canada and this was my first time leaving the country! I almost had a panic attack at the boarder haha but it was a neat feeling to leave the US. Even though it wasn't by much. :) Vancouver is a really cool town. I wish we would have had more time to explore there but it was so green and beautiful.
Alaska is such a beautiful place. Even more green than Vancouver! If you're looking for somewhere to go see tons of nature and wildlife, this is the place. We saw lots of whales, bald eagles, seals, sea lions, and some saw dolphins. The glaciers are absolutely STUNNING and the air is so fresh and clean. The towns we stopped at were so cute and small - nestled right between the mountain forests and oceanfront. I felt like I was in the middle of a twilight movie and Jacob Black was gonna show up at any second. :) It was crazy for me to hear that the number one source of revenue for most of the towns there is tourism. We enjoyed walking along the boardwalks and shopping in all the little stores.
We were able to ride the worlds largest and highest zip line in the first town, Icy Straight Point. It took about a minute and a half to ride to the bottom going up to 60 miles per hour! We were riding right above the tree tops. It was super neat and I highly recommend doing it if you're ever in Alaska. We saw lots to bald eagles and totem poles and I felt like I was in legit Eskimo territory. :)
Our next stop was Hubbard Glacier. This was one of my favorite parts of the cruise. We were able to get really close and the weather was PERFECT so we got a very clear view of the glacier and let me tell you it was massive and so beautiful! Fun fact: Glaciers are so big, they create their own weather. Because of the warm weather, there was lots of calving happening. This is when chunks of ice break off the glacier. It sounded like there were cannons going off everywhere. The ice floated out into the ocean and eventually melted away. The ocean surrounding the glacier was full of these chunks. Fun fact: the pieces that are the bluest are the most fresh break-offs. All over these chunks were baby seals! There were thousands if them. This is one of the favorite places for pregnant seals to give birth in Alaska. Tyler said he wished he could have seen a killer whale jump up and eat one. So cruel. Haha the glacier was not white like I had thought it would be. It was all shades of blue - teals, aquas, and navy, with some white. Fun fact: glaciers absorb all colors around them and only reflect blue. Hubbard Glacier is definitely a place everyone must go before they die. The cruise also held a Polar Bear Plunge for anyone who wanted to jump into the cold water. They filled the pool with "glacier water" and you had to jump in and swim to the other side and back. There were only about 10 people that participated, including Tyler, Jonathan, Christian, and Trevor. They said it wasn't that cold so I'm pretty sure it wasn't really "glacier water". haha But at least Tyler got a cool certificate from it. :) The boys also challenged the chief staff of the cruise to a volleyball match and they won! It was hilarious to watch. The commentator said the chief staff had never faced a team so robust (probably because the average age was 50!) haha
In the second town, Juneau (the capital city of Alaska), we spent the day whale watching with Captain Larry and his purple boat. Apparently he is a whale whisperer. Ha. We saw a few humpback whales and I still can't comprehend just how big those creatures are. To me, the ocean is a scary place. We didn't see any whales jump out of the water but there was one that raised its tail and made a big splash. Captain Larry informed us that that is a sign the whale is getting agitated. It's their warning sign to tell people to back off. There were a ton of boats surrounding the whale so they think it was getting nervous. Captain Larry said there are so many whale-watching boats now that they've noticed changes in the whales' behavior. Anyway whale watching was great and we had good time. We only saw humpback whales much to Tyler's dismay. He really wanted to see some Orca whales (killer whales). So he was kind of disappointed... Little did he know he'd be in for a treat later on. After whale watching, we hiked up to Mendenhall Glacier. This was another stunning site and there was a really neat waterfall running next to the glacier. It was beautiful and amazing to see a completely frozen wall of water next to a moving one. We saw some fun wildlife along our hike including a huge beaver but to my disappointment, no bears.
Our third stop was at Ketchican. Our family spent the day just walking around the city and visiting all the little shops. A lot of this city was built on piers over the water so there were some cute board walks! We bought salt water taffy, ice cream, and delicious caramel popcorn! It was outrageously priced but delicious all the same. That's one thing that sucks about Alaska... The prices. I bought clam chowder in Juneau and it was $9 for about 8oz of soup. No joke. In case you're wondering, it was worth it. :) Anyway after we were done wandering the city, we headed back to the boat to get ready for dinner. We had a great table for our dinner each night. We were right at the back of the boat next to a giant window so we got to look out as we were sailing along and admire the scenery. This was when Tyler's treat came swimming along. Everyone at the tables next to us started freaking out and we heard someone shout "whales!" So we ran to our window to see what was happening. There was a pod of at least 10 Orcas swimming right near our boat! It was incredible! They swim so fast! They would rise out of the water in compete synchronization and blow their water out and then go back down. It was a sight to behold and I wish I would have had my camera! I ended up getting crowded out of my spot at the window because some lady had really smelly fish breath. Gross. But Tyler was smiling for the rest of the night. :)
And that was the jist of our trip. To me, the beautiful sights I was able to see we're a testament that this earth didn't just come out of nowhere. How thankful I am for a loving Father in Heaven who created such beautiful places for me to visit. This earth is such an incredible place and I can't wait to go to even more places in the future.
Below are some pictures that I took and I'll post more later on as I get them (mom took most of the wildlife pics because my camera wasn't good/fast enough) Enjoy! :)
At the Canadian border!
Docked in Vancouver before the ship took off
Ash, Dad, and me!
The 5 Sails of Vancouver - these are on top of one of the most famous restaurants in Vancouver
At Icy Straight Point
The view of Icy Straight Point as we drove up to the zip-line
Another gorgeous view. Like I said, SO GREEN!
At the zip-line!
Hubbard Glacier - and this isn't even all of it.
Hubbard Glacier - I thought it was stunning next to the vibrant green mountain
The pretty colors!
Calving in action
Baby seals on the ice - so cute :)
Tyler and Jonathan before the plunge
All the boys before the plunge (including some friends Trev met on the cruise - they were from Utah!)
After the plunge! Burrr!
The volleyball match!
Mendenhall Glacier
Pretty colors of Mendenhall Glacier
The waterfall next to the Glacier
Whale watching! - it was cold and windy :/
Whale tail!
Huge beaver near Mendenhall Glacier
