2017 Alaska Travel Recap

Hello Alaska!

In August 2017 we took a family trip to Alaska. My in-laws gifted us with a trip of a lifetime! They look the whole family on an Alaskan cruise, I mean how insane is that?!! I HIGHLY recommend adding this beautiful and majestic place to your bucket list. I am still in disbelief that I was able to visit this wonderful place with my loved ones. Some of the details of our trip included flying into a Anchorage and then boarding our Princess Cruise ship (which was fabulous) for the week. We traveled southbound and to our final port Vancouver, Canada. My little peanut already has her passport stamped! Our little world traveler at the age of 2. I’d love to go again and explore and try different activities. Fingers crossed we will be able to one day 🙂 I won’t bore you will all the details but will show you some of our highlights. One last thing, how have I not been a cruise before? I AM HOOKED. It’s a floating resort and keeps stopping in new exciting cities. I can’t wait to book another soon. So here goes some of favorite moments from the trip. Enjoy!

Wildlife Conservation Center

We flew into Anchorage, AK and then the next morning took a 2 hour bus ride to the port to board our ship. The driver made a few pit stops to see the scenery and then had a long stop at the national wildlife refugee. The kids loved seeing the moose, bears, and elk.

Made it to the ship which we would call home for the week. But I will say if you get stuck in Alaska traffic it is no joke. There was one two lane road to the port in Whittier from Anchorage  and we got stuck not moving for quite awhile. Our 2 year old kept us on our toes haha. (oh and there is no cell service so even youtube kids could help us out)

I mean come on! These were taken from the 1st night on the ship. The one on the left is actually from 11pm at night from our balcony. Little one was sleeping so I took advantage of a glass of wine and the sunset (even though it was way past all our bedtimes). Every time we looked out the window we saw a new breathtaking view. It was so refreshing to see nature untouched.

Day at Sea

We had 2 days at sea. Although they were some of favorite days (and the spa visit certainly helped) We still traveled to see glaciers. The first day was Glacier Bay which is a US National Park. The rangers hopped on board in the morning and put numerous programs regarding where we were. Fun fact: The ship wasn’t allowed to serve any paper products (no straws, plastic cups, etc) to help eliminate any trash in the bay. Way to be green! Oh darn I guess I’ll have to have my champagne served in an actual flute. 🙂

Views from our balcony. I mean it looks like its a fake background right? So unreal. The weather was phenomenal as well! I packed all our parkas and winter gear and wish I brought more summer stuff. sunny and warm just how I like it.

More Glacier sightings. Every so often you could hear and see large pieces of the ice fall into the bay. It was quite remarkable.

Skagway, AK

Stopped into a “gold mining village” to see what the hype around the gold rush was about. Great fun for all of us. The tour took us up to the Canada and US border. Our driver said there was one highway in and out of town and when they wanted to go see a movie it took 6 hours to get to the closest movie theater, but the locals love living here. It really was a friendly little town nestled in on the coast. (although we did take a historic train ride up the mountain that did get stuck half way up, sitting on a stopped train on the side of a very high mountain with a toddler for hours is something I am trying to block from my memory)

Juneau, AK

Whale watching in the morning and a salmon bake for lunch along with lots of Sarah Palin jokes 🙂 We also stopped at Mendenhall Glacier while in Juneau. Another beautiful natural wonder. Avery loved it so much she fell asleep in the baby carrier. (but seriously the no nap days were tough so this mama was happy she got a long nap in even if I had to walk her around for a few hours).

Ketchikan, AK

Another favorite stop in this little salmon fishing village. We opted for a walk around town morning which was perfect. No schedule which meant eating, some brews, and then more walking around to burn off some of the delicious foot we just indulged in. The boys went on a fishing adventure and us ladies did some eagle watching. It was a perfect way to end our trip. Next stop was Vancouver in the morning to hop off the boat.