The Best Things to See on an Alaskan Cruise

Ok, so I explained the background of the whole Alaskan cruise to celebrate my in-laws 60th wedding anniversary yesterday, but today let’s talk about the best things to see on an Alaskan cruise.

Because we saw some good stuff in Alaska.

Three Things About this Trip…

1. There is endless beauty to experience in Alaska. What we saw was the tip of the iceberg and I definitely want to go back. But it was such a good start!
2. I am SO GRATEFUL for my brother-in-law Ryan who did so much of the legwork to figure out the best things to do on our stops. He led the whole pack and OH it felt so good to have things planned out. I so appreciated that effort.
3. We really wanted to be together most of the time, so we did things that everyone (including my 80+ year old in-laws) could enjoy and I loved that. As Eyres we tend to go into “maximize every second” mentality and I loved just slowing down and enjoying being together.

Also, the weather in September in Alaska? Usually rainy. In fact, the forecast called for a bunch of rain. But we lucked out and had some pretty incredible weather. A few sprinkles here and there, which brought the colors out even more, and sun in Glacier Bay National Park. But we’ll get to that soon. Let’s start at the beginning.

The Best Things to See on an Alaskan Cruise

JUNEAU

Our first stop was Juneau, and oh man, I fell in love with that place.

Mendenhall Glacier

We walked off the boat and rented cars to take us to Mendenhall Glacier, looming large and striped blue nestled between the mountains in front of us.

**Side note: If you ever see a really good quality photo in this post like the ones above and below this little note, let’s make sure we give the credit to my sister-in-law Kara. She lugged her camera all over creation and I know from personal experience that is a labor of love. So grateful for these photos she got that are so much better than the iPhone ones, thank you Kara!

Nugget Falls

We did the little two-mile hike/walk to Nugget Falls and were in awe of all that cascading water.

En route back to the cars, Kara, Annie and I took a little secret off-shoot out into the middle of all that beauty.

It was so pretty.

Yow! See that glacier behind us?

Auke Lake Trail

All that was beautiful. My favorite, though, was Auke Lake trail.

Favorite enough that it is a new thin place for me. It was so lush and green around that lake, rich emerald moss creeping up every living thing with black dirt trails leading through.

I mean, look at this place!

And the light!

We walked and talked and oohhh’d and ahhh’d.

I made everyone stop at one point for a five-senses moment to thoroughly take it all in. Ha!

It was a five-mile walk and loved doing it with these two hand-in-hand.

These roots were fascinating below. A tree had fallen over and you could see the roots standing on end horizontally:

Nature is amazing.

Douglas Island

We drove to Douglas island to try to catch the view looking back down:

Did a “tunnel” for Ryan for all the planning he did:

And stopped at the whale statue/fountain en route back to the boat:

There was just something so special in the air being together with that family, Papa asking if this was the “last stop” (ready to get back on the boat) and then catching himself because he knew everyone would give him the business since that’s what all those kids would ask over and over again on his “scenic trail” trips growing up.

SKAGWAY

This was another one of my tops of the tops.

We split up in Skagway, Nana, Papa and Dave’s older brother Bob opting for the scenic train ride up the side of the mountain to experience all that beauty.

E-Bike Tour

While the rest of us walked through that ancient gold rush town…

…and rented E-bikes from a place called Klondike Bikes.

They were so great, and gave us a map and explained all the stops not to be missed on this 22-mile loop filled with overlooks and beauty around every corner.

(I do realize that map is upside down, but the stuff we saw is written right-side up.)

I love that we could stop wherever we wanted amidst those suggested stops and bask in Alaska.

We wove through rock ravines and clear turquoise bays.

I was by far the slowest because I could not handle not stopping for pictures in too many spots.

Why do I think I can capture all that beauty? Maybe it makes me feel like I’m honoring it somehow by trying to capture it.

Gold Rush Cemetery

The Gold Rush Cemetery was our first stop, where many of those men rushing to make their fortunes are buried.

Lower Reid Falls

From the cemetery we did a little hike…

…up to Lower Reid Falls.

One of Lucy’s phone calls came through right then for the picture moment up there, walking from science to math, ha!

Love him.

Overlook

Oh man, these overlooks!

Boy howdy!

In love.

On to the next stop.

The Beach at Nahku Bay

My favorite stop was on a deserted beach filled with driftwood, the mountains coming to meet each other on the horizon in front of us, skipping rocks and talking.

Ghost Town of Dyea

This town was from the midst of the Gold Rush back in 1898.

Nothing there any more, but so interesting to imagine those gold seekers on the frontier seeking their fortunes.

Other things en route to “the end” of the trail:

Oh-so-soft moss just like on Blakely Island last summer:

The end of the road.

Back in Skagway

Back in town Dave got the group some king crab legs at Woadies (they were in HEAVEN at that stuff I tell you!)…

…and Indian fry bread at Klondike Doughboy. Every summer when they sell 80,000 of these fry bread deliciousness, it did not disappoint.

It was a day well-spent.

GLACIER BAY NATIONAL PARK

This wasn’t actually a “stop,” more a “glide-through” the most majestic and crystal clear gorgeousness.

It was like we were inside a painting all day, chunks of icebergs floating all around us, wispy trains of clouds resting on the mountains.

It was sunny and gorgeous, and the captain told us this was the first sunny day they had seen while visiting there for three months.

We are lucky-ducks.

We picked up park rangers in the morning and they were on the boat with us all day answering questions.

We sailed all through that area and the rangers pointed out three main glaciers:

Reid Glacier, John Hopkins Glacier & Margerie Glacier

Lots of family time on the deck taking in all the beauty.

The scenery leaving that bay was spectacular and moody too.

And we took it all in while drinking hot cocoa on the top deck. Love this pic of photobombing Julie:)

KETCHIKAN

This is the “Salmon Capitol of the World” and we were on the hunt to see them.

And bears.

Dave set up a 15-passenger van for us all the night before (Dave’s brother wanted to explore on his own) and we all crowded in to explore this spot.

It was the tail end of the salmon season and our guide took us to an overlook where we saw a whole slew of them along with a bear cub we followed for a bit, and some incredible birds filling up the air above.

Waterfall Hike

Our awesome guide took us to a beautiful waterfall.

Annie, Ryan and I made our way up a little higher to see it from above.

Totem Pole Museum

We checked out a totem pole museum (I am a huge fan of totem poles after our Vancouver trip last summer, such a cool way to record family history or have a “family crest”).

The museum was also filled with all kinds of curious things from gold rush days and bear hunting.

Salmon Ladder

Back in the town of Ketchikan we checked out the Salmon Ladder that is supposed to help the salmon get upstream. I could have sworn I took a photo, but I cannot find it. This is the part of the river that is parallel to the man-made cement “ladder” that apparently helps the salmon take “steps” up instead of maneuvering the rocks to get up.

We were at the very end of the season so there weren’t a ton of salmon jumping into that thing, but it was super interesting to watch and wonder…why do some just swim up all the rocks and others figure out how to use the “ladder” to get up?

Salmon are pretty incredible creatures, growing while finding their way to the ocean, and then somehow magnetically genetic habits urge them back to the freshwater they came from to spawn. Only one out of one hundred who reach the ocean make it to return to spawn, how did God figure all this out??

The whole thing was pretty fascinating to me, so I want to keep these pictures of information here in this post for reference.

Creek Street

Ryan, Laurel, Annie, Dave and I explored Creek Street together (a street with stores and homes up on stilts with a pretty racy history “where men and fish come to spawn” back in the old days).

Then we headed back to the cruise ship for one more day at sea.

VICTORIA

After a full day of sailing, we made one last stop in Victoria, Canada. It was short and sweet…we arrived at 9:30pm and had to be back by 11. (I guess there’s some maritime law that you have to make a stop in Canada before returning to the USA).

I would have loved to see that city in the light, it sure looked gorgeous at night.

Loved walking along the water with the glistening lights of the Fairmont Empress and the Parliament Building.

And THAT, my friends, is a very long wrap of some stops we sure loved on our Alaskan cruise.

If you’ve made it here, congrats.

It was really a trip of a lifetime and thanks for letting me share.

XOXO