Hello!
Recently, we went on a family trip to Alaska!
It was us kid’s first time. My parents had been a while ago when my mom was pregnant with Ben, but they hadn’t gone to the southern part that we were in this time.
For the first night we stayed in Anchorage, then visited Girdwood and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Then we stayed in Cooper’s Landing for a few nights. We did a day trip down to the Homer Spit, and the next day we did a 8.5 hour boat ride out of Seward to see some glaciers and wildlife. The next day we drove to Denali National Park and stopped in Talkeetna on the way there. We stayed at the Denali Bluffs Resort, which was really nice! For the next two days we spent time in Denali, including a big bus tour where we got to see four of the “Big 5” in Alaska… Dall sheep, moose, caribou and bears! On our way back to Anchorage we stopped for kayaking on Eklutna Lake. Then we stayed in Anchorage for the last two nights.
It was such a great trip! There was so much beauty and we were blessed with lots of cool animal sightings. And we had so much delicious food! It was also really fun to spend that time together as a family. It had been a little while since we’ve gone on a big family trip, especially by plane. There were lots of good memories made!
What’s something you liked about it (and why)? There’s so much I liked!
I enjoyed seeing wildlife on both the long boat tour and the bus ride in Denali. It’s so exhilarating, especially when you’re on a tour or around other people you don’t know because there’s this communal sense of wonder, amazement and excitement. I also just really love animals and getting to see them in the wild!
My favorite animal sighting was the grizzly bears. Our tour saw a total of 7 I think! I missed two of them because the angle was weird, but I saw them on the screen that the guide was projecting onto with his camera. I did, however, get a great view of the first one, especially when it walked out of the bushes for a couple seconds (my dad caught the moment perfectly in the picture below!), and I’m pretty sure there was another one with it but it was very hard to see. It was so exciting to have actually spotted one! Then later we saw a mom and two cubs, and they ran down a hill! I was really hoping that we’d get to see some bears and we were not disappointed! Even the tour guide said it was quite the day for bears. I’ve never seen one in the wild (and I’m glad it was from a safe distance and place), and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a big predator like that in the wild. It was just so neat to see real bears, in the wild, and to see so many!
What’s something you disliked about it (and why)? I was a little bummed that we didn’t get to see orcas on our boat ride. Especially because we saw that several of the tours the day before had seen some. We missed them in the Seattle area when we went several years ago too. They are just so big and cool and I think it’d be really neat to see one in the wild. But, God really blessed us with some great wildlife sightings throughout our trip. I’m not complaining!
What was your biggest takeaway or lesson? My biggest takeaway was probably getting to experience what Alaska is like. Until you’ve been somewhere, even if you’ve seen lots of pictures and videos, you don’t really know what it’s like and you can’t picture what it feels like to be there. Denali National Park, the towns, and Alaska in general was different than my mental picture of what they’d be like. But they were still great and I’m glad to have gotten to experience a good chunk of Alaska and to now be able to picture it. I’d be much more ready to plan another trip there now that we’ve been!
What is something you’re curious to learn more about as a result of this experience? There’s quite a bit I’m curious to learn more about. I’d especially like to learn about when people hike and camp in the back country of Denali National Park, which we learned is one of the main things to do in the park. I’d also like to learn more about the Big 5, the top animals to see in Alaska… Dall sheep, bears, caribou, moose and wolves.
Going to Alaska was such a great opportunity and experience, and I’m so glad to have gotten to go with my family!
Thank you for reading!
God bless!
Lucy
