Amazing Alaska:)

It felt like the lead up to the big annual family vacation took forever this year! Maybe it was because we had something really special planned this year - a cruise to Alaska! We flew out of Seattle on the 4th and started the week partying on the boat to celebrate America's birthday:)

We sailed on Norwegian Cruise Line's ship, the Jewel. It was gorgeous and the food was a little too fantastic;)

The view from the sundeck of Seattle was lovely as we sailed away...We spent the first day at sea finding our way around the boat and enjoying some of the entertainment. The weather was sunny and warm - just perfect :)

Our first stop was Ketchikan, the southernmost town in Alaska and one of the oldest (and one of the many that claim to be the "salmon capital of the world":). We woke up to catch the sun rise as we sailed into port...

 

We took a trolley nature tour to get some info on Alaska and take in some of Alaska's beautiful scenery and wildlife...

There are bald eagles everywhere - the juveniles are brown and white - I could have photographed them all day long!

Ketchikan has the largest number of totem poles in the world. Evidently they are used to tell stories (not for worship as once thought). At the State Park, the guides shared some of the old Alaskan tales depicted on these incredible pieces of art...

Ketchikan also has a famous red-light district from the old gold-mining days - we toured Dolly's house - she was one of the most notorious 'ladies of negotiable affection' back in the day...

The next day we went to the only State capital in America than cannot be accessed by road, Juneau. I was very nervous since we had booked the helicopter ride to see the glaciers and just the week before one of the sea planes had crashed in the same area. And I've never flown in a helicopter. And I'm a 'fraidy cat ;)

Maddy was a trooper!

The views were just spectacular on the way out to the glaciers...

And then we actually landed on Taku glacier!!!

It was just indescribable...we drank glacier water!

Maddy recorded the helicopter take off for the journey back... 



We got back to the boat exhausted and exhilarated, and grabbed dinner at our favorite spot at the back of the boat to get ready for the ship to take us through Tracy Arm fjord to see Sawyer glacier. As we got closer, we saw huge chunks of ice floating by the boat...

 

And then we realized that some of them had harbor seals on them :)

The glacier was so beautiful:)

But the most amazing thing for me was the reaction of the passengers! The whole boat just lit up - I have never seen so many people as excited! All types of people - I couldn't stop taking photos of them - it was amazing to watch everyone's faces!!

And some faces were just overwhelmed...:)

What an unforgettable experience:)

The next morning we had another action-packed agenda and started out our day in Skagway with the famous White Pass train ride. The track follows the original route completed by over 100 thousand  gold seekers from Skagway to the Yukon territory back in the late 1800s.

It took 9 years to build and 35 workers lost their lives during the treacherous construction. Over 3000 horses also died during the original treks due to the harsh conditions. The ride was about 3 hours long - full of gorgeous scenery and fascinating stories - we loved it!

When we got back to town, we went gold-panning...

Our trusty training guide...

And we all found some flakes:)

Then we went to meet some of the famous Iditarod sled dogs. We had some concerns about how we felt about this practice but we all really enjoyed meeting a genuine dog musher (he has completed the race 5 times) and his love and care for the animals was really apparent. And the dogs just love to race! they are in summer training right now so the demonstration was on ground with a wheeled sled. The dogs that weren't selected for the show howled the place down - it was so crazy! The dogs are gorgeous...

And Musher Matt was pretty easy on the eye too - in fact Mike had a bit of a bro-mance with him:)

And then Maddy got her big moment and held the puppies...:)

They were cute though...

 

And to finish off the day, we got to experience what 40 degrees below freezing feels like. It's really cold...

Another day of amazing memories:)

The next day we were at sea so we sat and whale watched from the balcony and read. We all needed some rest and relaxation:)

And then we arrived in Victoria - me and Maddy's first time in Canada! It took a little while to disembark so I fed some seagulls by hand ;)

Victoria is really pretty and I was looking forward to pottering around a bit and maybe doing a bit of light shopping...

But Maddy just loves killer whales and really, really wanted to see one in the wild, particularly after the movie, 'Blackfish' and she knew that there are some resident pods of Orcas in Victoria. And she can be very persuasive - can't imagine where she gets it from ;).

Since we hadn't booked an excursion in advance we had to take what was left which didn't worry me at all. Even after the waivers and outfits...

Alarm bells still didn't go off even when the guy booking it said to Michael "you know what a Zodiac is, right?" Not sure why I didn't see it coming...but here is what a zodiac looks like (this photo is from Google - I was too traumatized to photograph anything after I got off ours:))

I took a million selfies rocking my 'Deadliest Catch' look - totally oblivious of the terror to come...

In the background - our skipper, Mark. Mike's second bro-mance of the vacation :)

And the long ride began. I don't think I've ever screamed as much in my life. After about 30 minutes we stopped just over the US border. And then the magic happened. We saw about 20 Killer whales, including "Grandma" - the oldest known Orca - estimated to be about 104:). The photos are rubbish - but you get the idea. It was unbelievable:)

It's hard to get a feel for the scale - they are huge! Here's another boat to give you an idea...

It took the edge off the ride back. Marginally.

And then in a flash, the cruise was over. So many memories and experiences. We had just one more day in Seattle before the long flight home...

We started at the world famous Pike Place market...

That gum wall looks and smells sooooo nasty...

Fish throwing at Pike Place!

The famous Space Needle:)

At the EMP museum we saw the Nirvana exhibition...

 and Alien...

And one of the zombie costumes used in Michael Jackson's Thriller video :)

The zombie heads from one of my all-time favorite movies - An American Werewolf in London...

We stopped for coffee to wait for our flight and about 40 people cycled by stark naked!

What a crazy way to end a crazy trip. It's hard to put into words what Alaska has to offer. It's truly a life-changing place - if it's not on your bucket list yet - you should definitely add it. And take us back with you:)