Alaska truly is the 'last frontier' in the United States. Originally a territory of Russia, in 1949 Alaska was admitted as the 49th state in the Union. Located, far northward form the continental United States, Alaska is separated by Canada and lies in the Arctic Circle. Though Alaska is the the largest state in the U.S., it is still the most sparsely populated. Home to some of the world's most spectacular natural features, Alaska is a place that should be on every travelers list. I will be posting a series of blogs discussing my trip to Alaska and some of the amazing sites not to be missed.
I traveled to Alaska in July of 2008 for my Senior Trip upon graduating from high school. It had been a goal of mine to travel to this beautiful land where it seemed mankind had not yet touched. My trip was through a cruise and several land excursions. I would highly recommend seeing Alaska via cruising. The state is so large, it is almost impossible to see everything by car.
My trip started on a bright and sunny weekday morning with a drive from the Seattle to Vancouver, British Columbia. We arrived mid afternoon, parked at the airport and took a bus to the cruise terminal in East Vancouver.
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| Vancouver, B.C. Cruise Terminal |
Once we dropped off our luggage, we were free to walk around downtown Vancouver and sight see. I realized upon our arrival that I had forgotten my tennis shoes, which would be a problem since Alaska is not the tropics! After shopping around and looking all over the city, I finally found a pair of shoes just in the nick of time. We headed back toward the cruise terminal to board the ship and find our room assignment. The line seemed to take forever, but finally we were able to pose for our boarding picture, receive our I.D. cards and step on-board.
We found our room and headed down below the main deck to pick up our luggage and settle in. Before the ship pulls away from port, everyone is required to participate in an emergency drill with life jackets. It was an experience. As we stood out on the deck in our bright orange and fabulous life jackets, our ship the M.S. Veendam pulled away from the dock.
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| Dad and me in our life jackets |
The first evening on board was quite fun, full of festivities, great food and mingling. We sat out on the the sun deck eating delicious Hors d'oeuvres and sipping decadent drinks looking at the beautiful scenery and sunset. The first night we had a casual 'get to know you' dinner where we met our table mates for the cruise.
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| Saying good bye to Vancouver! |
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| Beautiful Scenery |
My next entry will cover Ketchikan and Juneau. Cheers!
