Alaska was Epic
So as many of you know, I just got home from my 10 year wedding anniversary trip to Alaska. We took a 7 day cruise on the Golden Princess ship, which was the prettiest ship I saw up there in Alaska! ^_^
First we flew to Seattle, we took Virgin America. The plane was awesome. We tried a new drink called Veev. I highly recommend for those of you that are drinking age. XD
After we landed we were taken on a bus to our ship. We had a mini-suite which was really nice, big balcony, bathtub, you know, all that good stuff. We had one day at sea and then our first port Juneau.
Juneau was a beautiful town. Nice streets, slow pace of life, super cute buildings, lovely little pathways into the mountain. There was a waterfall coming down one of the mountains right at the back of the city, it was really breathtaking.
We got on a helicopter and flew to the Mendenhall glacier. We landed on the glacier at the dog mushers camp that's at the top of the glacier, surrounded by mountain peaks. Gorgeous! The dogs were awesome, we got to learn all their names and pet all of them. They were so fun! Then we got to go on the actual sleds with our team of 10 dogs. We had 2 sleds, one in front and one in back. It was just me and my hubby and the dog musher, so we got to take turns driving on the sled in the back and sitting on the sled in the front. Dog mushing is absolutely amazing! I fell in love with it instantly. It was one of the most amazing experiences ever. ♥
After we flew back into town on the helicopter we went around town. We found out pretty quickly that Sean had lost his cell phone some time we were on the glacier. We called the company right away, but it wasn't found. :( boo. We feel really bad about it if it's melting in the glacier ice right now. :( Hopefully it was just left in the helicopter or on the bus. :/
So we went to a fishery called Taku, where they gave out smoked salmon samples. I don't like seafood, my Sean loves it, so he had some and really liked it. There was a restaurant right behind Taku called Twisted Fish, so we went there to eat. It was really nice. We ordered the local Alaska Brewery pale ale, which was really good. I'm not a fan of beer, but I really liked it. Sean got fresh Alaskan king crab legs and pretty much licked the plate clean he liked them so much. I had a cheeseburger, which was yummy too.
The next morning we arrived in Skagway, and we had to be up early to catch the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway. We took it all the way to the summit peak where there was a glacial lake that was still mostly frozen from winter. It was beautiful up there. It was really interesting learning so much about the Klondike gold rush of 1898 and seeing the trail they took to make it into the Klondike Yukon interior where all the gold was/is.
After that we were bused to the Gold Rush, where we got to tour a real dredge used in the Yukon the dredge gold and then we got to do some panning ourselves. That was pretty fun, we got a little over 3 grams between the two of us, which is apparently $27 worth of gold. Pretty awesome we got real Klondike gold we panned ourselves right there in Alaska. ^_^ Skagway, by the way, we learned didn't have any gold, all the gold was/is in the Yukon, but they brought some from the Yukon for us to pan through. Klondike gold is 23 karats, which is apparently as pure as natural gold gets. To get 24 karat you have to melt it down and remove the impurities. Cool, right?
After that, we went to the Gold Rush brewery, which was there on the same property as the dredge and the gold panning. This was my fave restaurant! The beer and the food were AWESOME. First, the beer was amazing. It was brewed right there, you could literally see it from your table. We got a bunch of samplers of the different ones so we could try them all and we got a sample platter to try out the food. It was fresh BBQ. We had pulled pork, chicken wings, pork & beef ribs, french fries, onion rings, and corn fritters with honey butter. It was so tasty! Then we got to write on the wall. I put ALASKA is EPIC Sean & Tracy 10 Yr Anniversary. It's in the doorway wall in blue & green markers. Super cool!
After that we took a summit to sea bike tour. I stopped after only a few minutes because it was really steep and we were going really fast. I was scared out of my wits. I'm the that person that gets hurt if there is hurt to be getting, so I thought better of trying to push it and just got a ride in the van back down the mountain. Kind of sucked that I didn't get to do the ride all the way down, I was really looking forward to it, but better to be safe than sorry, and better to have fun than to tough it out and be scared to death. So meh...
After Skagway was a scenic cruise day through Tracy Arm. It was awesome. We were in the ship passing little icebergs. So cool! We went pretty close to the glacier, but there was too much ice in the water to go right up to it. Boo! Gives me another reason to go to Alaska again though I guess. I was actually kind of hoping to see some calving, but we didn't. Still, we saw pods of orcas, and we saw some humpbacks, we saw seals, we saw bald eagles, we saw a mountain goat, so we did see a lot of wild life which was pretty awesome. I saw a baby orca, which was really amazing. I got a picture of his little tail going back into the ocean too. So cute! ♥
Our next port was Ketchikan, which was really fun, I wish we had more time in that port because we didn't get to really tour the town. We had a seaplane flight seeing excursion over the Misty Fjords national park. It was super pretty, we even landed the plane out there. I got lots of awesome pictures. I did bang my head really hard on the plane getting out though and ouch, my head is STILL sore! Uwah! It was worth it though. Kekekekeke
Our last port was Victoria Canada, and we were there late, from 7pm to midnight our last night. We walked all over downtown and browsed the shops that were still open. Then we went to a place called Earls. It was really nice. Good atmosphere, really good beer, we got Albino Rhino from Whistler. It was tasty. We got this artichoke dip that was so special. Seriously, if there was a local Earls, I would be all over that place. XD
After that we had to pack up and left the ship around 10 am the next morning. It was sad to leave our ship, we had a really good time on it, watching movies under the stars on the lido deck with blankies and hot chocolate, sitting in our stateroom watching movies on the tele, hanging out on our balcony watching the wildlife and the snow capped mountains sail by while we ordered room service and all that good stuff. We even had high tea on the ship the Friday before we got off.
When we arrived at the SeaTac airport we were reminded that we would be there all day before our flight. We decided to upgrade our seats to what Virgin calls main cabin select. We wanted to upgrade to first class, but they weren't available. It was nice though. First, back to the airport, we went to a restaurant there called Anthony's. Sean got the Wild Alaska Salmon fish and chips, he loved it. He also got their "famous" clam chowder in a fresh backed sourdough bread bowl. I got a salad and a burger and a beer. This was the one place I didn't care for the beer, but my burger was good. Then we slept. We were really tried from Alaska. The midnight sun up there really fries your clock. We had 3 hour long sunsets, and it looked like mid-day at 7pm. It was pretty wild. One night, I was able to look to the right - north - towards the back of the ship and saw sunset - if I looked to the left - south - towards the front of the ship I saw a night sky filled with stars. That was certainly amazing.
Alaska cruising - I highly recommend! And don't believe the hype that it's only for old people, that's utter crap. Alaska is wild and amazing and they have awesome beer and so much daylight you can totally party if you want.
First we flew to Seattle, we took Virgin America. The plane was awesome. We tried a new drink called Veev. I highly recommend for those of you that are drinking age. XD
After we landed we were taken on a bus to our ship. We had a mini-suite which was really nice, big balcony, bathtub, you know, all that good stuff. We had one day at sea and then our first port Juneau.
Juneau was a beautiful town. Nice streets, slow pace of life, super cute buildings, lovely little pathways into the mountain. There was a waterfall coming down one of the mountains right at the back of the city, it was really breathtaking.
We got on a helicopter and flew to the Mendenhall glacier. We landed on the glacier at the dog mushers camp that's at the top of the glacier, surrounded by mountain peaks. Gorgeous! The dogs were awesome, we got to learn all their names and pet all of them. They were so fun! Then we got to go on the actual sleds with our team of 10 dogs. We had 2 sleds, one in front and one in back. It was just me and my hubby and the dog musher, so we got to take turns driving on the sled in the back and sitting on the sled in the front. Dog mushing is absolutely amazing! I fell in love with it instantly. It was one of the most amazing experiences ever. ♥
After we flew back into town on the helicopter we went around town. We found out pretty quickly that Sean had lost his cell phone some time we were on the glacier. We called the company right away, but it wasn't found. :( boo. We feel really bad about it if it's melting in the glacier ice right now. :( Hopefully it was just left in the helicopter or on the bus. :/
So we went to a fishery called Taku, where they gave out smoked salmon samples. I don't like seafood, my Sean loves it, so he had some and really liked it. There was a restaurant right behind Taku called Twisted Fish, so we went there to eat. It was really nice. We ordered the local Alaska Brewery pale ale, which was really good. I'm not a fan of beer, but I really liked it. Sean got fresh Alaskan king crab legs and pretty much licked the plate clean he liked them so much. I had a cheeseburger, which was yummy too.
The next morning we arrived in Skagway, and we had to be up early to catch the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway. We took it all the way to the summit peak where there was a glacial lake that was still mostly frozen from winter. It was beautiful up there. It was really interesting learning so much about the Klondike gold rush of 1898 and seeing the trail they took to make it into the Klondike Yukon interior where all the gold was/is.
After that we were bused to the Gold Rush, where we got to tour a real dredge used in the Yukon the dredge gold and then we got to do some panning ourselves. That was pretty fun, we got a little over 3 grams between the two of us, which is apparently $27 worth of gold. Pretty awesome we got real Klondike gold we panned ourselves right there in Alaska. ^_^ Skagway, by the way, we learned didn't have any gold, all the gold was/is in the Yukon, but they brought some from the Yukon for us to pan through. Klondike gold is 23 karats, which is apparently as pure as natural gold gets. To get 24 karat you have to melt it down and remove the impurities. Cool, right?
After that, we went to the Gold Rush brewery, which was there on the same property as the dredge and the gold panning. This was my fave restaurant! The beer and the food were AWESOME. First, the beer was amazing. It was brewed right there, you could literally see it from your table. We got a bunch of samplers of the different ones so we could try them all and we got a sample platter to try out the food. It was fresh BBQ. We had pulled pork, chicken wings, pork & beef ribs, french fries, onion rings, and corn fritters with honey butter. It was so tasty! Then we got to write on the wall. I put ALASKA is EPIC Sean & Tracy 10 Yr Anniversary. It's in the doorway wall in blue & green markers. Super cool!
After that we took a summit to sea bike tour. I stopped after only a few minutes because it was really steep and we were going really fast. I was scared out of my wits. I'm the that person that gets hurt if there is hurt to be getting, so I thought better of trying to push it and just got a ride in the van back down the mountain. Kind of sucked that I didn't get to do the ride all the way down, I was really looking forward to it, but better to be safe than sorry, and better to have fun than to tough it out and be scared to death. So meh...
After Skagway was a scenic cruise day through Tracy Arm. It was awesome. We were in the ship passing little icebergs. So cool! We went pretty close to the glacier, but there was too much ice in the water to go right up to it. Boo! Gives me another reason to go to Alaska again though I guess. I was actually kind of hoping to see some calving, but we didn't. Still, we saw pods of orcas, and we saw some humpbacks, we saw seals, we saw bald eagles, we saw a mountain goat, so we did see a lot of wild life which was pretty awesome. I saw a baby orca, which was really amazing. I got a picture of his little tail going back into the ocean too. So cute! ♥
Our next port was Ketchikan, which was really fun, I wish we had more time in that port because we didn't get to really tour the town. We had a seaplane flight seeing excursion over the Misty Fjords national park. It was super pretty, we even landed the plane out there. I got lots of awesome pictures. I did bang my head really hard on the plane getting out though and ouch, my head is STILL sore! Uwah! It was worth it though. Kekekekeke
Our last port was Victoria Canada, and we were there late, from 7pm to midnight our last night. We walked all over downtown and browsed the shops that were still open. Then we went to a place called Earls. It was really nice. Good atmosphere, really good beer, we got Albino Rhino from Whistler. It was tasty. We got this artichoke dip that was so special. Seriously, if there was a local Earls, I would be all over that place. XD
After that we had to pack up and left the ship around 10 am the next morning. It was sad to leave our ship, we had a really good time on it, watching movies under the stars on the lido deck with blankies and hot chocolate, sitting in our stateroom watching movies on the tele, hanging out on our balcony watching the wildlife and the snow capped mountains sail by while we ordered room service and all that good stuff. We even had high tea on the ship the Friday before we got off.
When we arrived at the SeaTac airport we were reminded that we would be there all day before our flight. We decided to upgrade our seats to what Virgin calls main cabin select. We wanted to upgrade to first class, but they weren't available. It was nice though. First, back to the airport, we went to a restaurant there called Anthony's. Sean got the Wild Alaska Salmon fish and chips, he loved it. He also got their "famous" clam chowder in a fresh backed sourdough bread bowl. I got a salad and a burger and a beer. This was the one place I didn't care for the beer, but my burger was good. Then we slept. We were really tried from Alaska. The midnight sun up there really fries your clock. We had 3 hour long sunsets, and it looked like mid-day at 7pm. It was pretty wild. One night, I was able to look to the right - north - towards the back of the ship and saw sunset - if I looked to the left - south - towards the front of the ship I saw a night sky filled with stars. That was certainly amazing.
Alaska cruising - I highly recommend! And don't believe the hype that it's only for old people, that's utter crap. Alaska is wild and amazing and they have awesome beer and so much daylight you can totally party if you want.