Good morning everyone!
It’s been a long week and a half on board, so hopefully you’ve been able to explore all that the ship had to offer. We’ve headed into some familiar territory for many on this ship...the United States. We’ll be exploring different parts of Alaska for a week and then head back to where the whole cruise started. I hope you enjoy Alaska!
Ketchikan
To explore Ketchikan we went on a boat tour to see everything and the entire time it was raining and I was super cold. So that part sucked, however the sights made up for it. The tour was about 3 hours and luckily the boat had a concession stand so we could order food. We went to the top deck to check out the sights, but we were only able to be up there for short periods of time since it was so cold. I was able to learn about the history of Ketchikan as well. I saw a few glaciers and animals while on board, but most of the scenery consisted of trees and empty areas. I was lucky enough to be able to see a black bear, a whale, some porpoises, and a bald eagle. Now those are some animals you definitely can’t find in Dunlap! While on board, they were giving some samples of salmon, and oh boy was it good. Now I’m no food critic, but it was super fresh and nothing that our local grocery stores can supply.
Juneau
We spent a day sailing and then arrived in Juneau the next day. Juneau was definitely one of my favorite places we stopped at because of what we had planned. I had always wanted to go dog-sledding but since I don’t possess the actual skills to do so, I didn’t go actual dog-sledding. Instead my brother and I did a modified version on land! We drove to a campsite where we got to see a a ton of huskies. The cool thing about these huskies, was that they were all different breeds. Some were mixed with a Labrador or even a Pitbull. They were still all adorable! My and brother I sat in a golf cart and 12 of these dogs started pulling us all around this super long trail. Even though it wasn’t the authentic version of dog-sledding, it was still extremely fun. After we got done going around the trails, we got to meet 4 different huskies and their babies. The little pups were so cute! Honestly, I could have spent the entire day at that place.
Skagway
This day of sightseeing was a lot different than the last two days. We planned an excursion called White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad. Basically we were going on a long train ride up to a part in Canada and then back. According to the conductor, we traveled 3,000 feet in elevation in 20 miles. I was able to see so many cool things and took a bunch of pictures. It was interesting to see how people built this railway during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. After I got done with the train ride, we went into the town and bought some souvenirs.
Farewell
Now that everyone has made it back to the ship after this exciting week in Alaska, I hope you’ve had so much fun. It’s been a pleasure to be your captain these last few months. Hopefully you were able to take lots of pictures of all the places we saw and eat a ton of new food. Have a safe trip back to wherever you call home and hopefully you plan another cruise soon!