Fears and Tears

I have wanted to visit Alaska for a long time, but my husband was not on board. His idea of a vacation is sun, beach, and palm trees. However, when planning our family vacation last year, he agreed to an Alaskan cruise. I was surprised, and excited all at the same time.

This past week, we began our journey to the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Our party consisted of my immediate family, my daughter’s boyfriend, two aunts, and my mom. I feel so blessed to have had this special time together. Sadly, my sister and her family were not able to make it and they were missed.

The great things about a cruise vacation is the wonderful service by the staff, the different ports to experience in one vacation, and all the different people you come in contact with. We arrived in Seattle the night before and sailed the next day for Juneau. The other ports included Skagway, cruising Glacier Bay, Ketchikan, and Victoria, Canada.

It took a couple days to reach Juneau, so it afforded the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful ship, get our bearings, and have relaxation time. The NCL Encore is a gorgeous and large ship that is expressive to behold. The hardworking crew comes from all the world and greets everyone with a smile and kind word.

I love traveling because it is a great teacher and I learn so much by exploring and experiencing new things.

In Seattle, I discovered how steep the streets are, enjoyed the rich, dark coffee, visited the lovely St. James Cathedral, and two local restaurants that were recommendations of the hotel staff. There was also an unexpected thunderstorm, which hasn’t happened in years in the area.

In Juneau, Alaska’s capital, I learned the city is landlocked. The only way to get there is to be born there, by air, or by sea. The mountains are steep that surround Juneau and there is very little wildlife there. Our tour consisted of visiting the Mendenhall Glacier and a whale watching boat trip. Both were fabulous and our tour guides did an amazing job of telling us about the local history and culture of the area. I did get to see whales up close which was one of my top things in this trip. They are Humpback Whales and they migrate from Hawaii. For so big a creature, they are so graceful to watch. There is something special about seeing them in their natural environment, it feels magical.

In Skagway, we took the White Pass railway, for the most gorgeous views of the area. We rode up the mountain in antique rail cars which were quite jarring. The scenery was breathtaking and included waterfalls, tunnels, and bridges. The railway station at the top crosses into Canada where it stops and we board a coach bus for the journey back down. There is a lake there with turquoise water that reminded me of Lake Louise in Banff. I had always wanted to experience water that color again, and this tour delivered that for me. We stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks on the way down. Our tour guide did a wonderful job of explaining the gold rush history of Skagway which was really interesting.

Our next day was spent cruising in Glacier Bay. There were three Rangers that boarded the ship. They explained about the glaciers that we were seeing and were available for questions. The colors of the bay is what stood out to me. The clouds hung low in the sky, some fog appeared, the water was so clear and beautiful with different hues of blue, green, and turquoise, the glaciers had a blue color within the white ice, there were several islands, and the mountains were covered with moss, jagged rocks, and a few waterfalls. The scenery was beautiful and seemed to be out of a fairytale. I almost expected a dragon to show up.

The next city we visited was Ketchikan, where we saw a lumberjack show which was entertaining and informative at the same time. The city of Ketchikan is beautiful and built into the mountains. It contains many Churches for the population, over twenty, because of a law that when a bar was built, there had to be a Church built also. The lawmakers thought that would keep down the bar population, but that was not the case. We also learned about the tribe’s in the area and visited the totem pole state park. The totem poles tell a story about that particular tribe and are quite impressive. We also got to see a rendition of a log house where the tribe would live. Again the scenery was beautiful and an eagle even showed up at the park.

Our final port was the island of Victoria, where we stopped in the evening for a couple of hours. We boarded a double decker bus and headed to the city. The beautiful buildings were covered in white lights and the weather was perfect. We walked around the streets and explored the shops. Again, another city I want to return to and visit during the daytime hours.

I am grateful that I got to experience this adventure with my beloved family. It truly was a special experience. It was bittersweet because I missed my dad on this trip and I thought of him often. He loved traveling and especially loved Alaska. I can say that I felt he was with me and the family. In this vacation there were tears, laughter, and sharing of our feelings and memories. In God’s time, He brought us together to experience His glorious creation, and it was good.

God is an artist, and the universe is His work of art. St. Thomas Aquinas