Welcome back to another blog post brought to you by me, Ariela! Yay!

So,

As promised

I am going to tell y’all about Alaska!

We went on a cruise to Alaska for my birthday! And it was MARVELOUS! I loved every bit of it! We boarded the m.s. Zuiderdam, and set sail at Port Vancouver, which is a pretty cool place cuz it’s got the Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel, the Vancouver World Trade Centre, and Expo 86 was held there! When we finally boarded the ship, I was suuuuper excited because we were going to be cruising for seven days, and going to the icy waters of the cold Alaskan… uh.. I dunno where I was going with that sentence. ANYWAY we got a cool room with a balcony, and then we got to see this tear drop statue thing called The Drop located at Bon Voyage Plaza.

So have you ever heard the cruise stories about the times when people got locked up in their hotel rooms when the pandemic was still super new? Well, thankfully that didn’t happen to us, and Holland America is a great cruise company. Actually, it’s the only one we cruise with because it’s pretty good compared to the others. But we will try other cruise company when travel is more pleasant.

Swimming is a big part of vacationing for my family, we’ve been to waterparks across Canada and the US. Alaska is cold, right? So how were we supposed to swim in the freezing cold? Well, they’ve got this really cool roof that can be retracted to turn an outdoor pool into an indoor one! It’s really cool! BUT for the people that are CRAZY and have an absence of BRAIN, there was a polar bear plunge which included jumping into outdoor pool at the back of the ship, not heated, and in the cruise ship was in the middle of a glacier zone. Not gonna lie, I WOULD’VE probably done it if I had my swimsuit with me. But alas! I did not!

History lesson time!

The expense and difficulty of Russia maintaining Alaska’s distant prompted its sale to the U.S. in 1867 for US$7.2 million (equivalent to $140 million in 2021), or approximately two cents per acre ($4.74/km²). The area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as a territory on May 11, 1912. It was admitted as the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959.(Wikipedia).

The first day of the cruise if usually a sea day, it gives you time to relax and enjoy and explore the ship before having to go to a port. The ship went through the Inside Passage, a network of passages that weave through the islands of the Pacific Northwest coast. The sailing is like, really smooth with ZERO waves because there’s land on either side of you, and from the ship you could swim to shore. That would be VERY COLD, but I mean if the ship sank you would probably survive with a mild case of hypothermia. Fun. Aaaaand here we have me trying to take a dramatic photo. Did I succeed?

I was VERY surprised when the weather was actually nice for every day that we had a port to go to. I was going to bring a parka, but I found myself taking off layers instead. If you look on the map, the cruise stops where we went to is just northern British Columbia (Canada) as my mom says. And she not wrong. Maybe next time if I ever go back to Alaska, I have to visit Anchorage and Fairbanks to explore the inland.

The first port we went to was Juneau, the capital city of Alaska.

From the ship, we could see a tram ride to the top of the Mount Roberts. On the top, you can see the panoramic view of Juneau, you can hike, eat at the restaurant, and shop for gifts. We didn’t do this though, because we’ve just been to sooooo many cable car rides. We did not go to a whale watching tour either because on the cruise we saw some whales and orcas along the way! Sometimes my dad will book a tour from the cruise line, but most of the time we just book one from the local tour operators. It’s wayyyyy cheaper. We decided to visit Mendenhall Glacier, so we bought a ticket from one of the local tour operators. The driver was also the tour guide, and there were an insane amount of bald eagles. Juneau has one of the highest concentrations of bald eagles in North America, estimates say there are anywhere from 15,000 to 30,000 up in Juneau, Alaska.

It is only a 12miles (19.31km) drive to the glacier from downtown Juneau. The picture below is the Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls. The Mendenhall Glacier is the most accessible glacier in Alaska. We walked around for twenty minutes and explored the glacier, but we had to stay very far away. The glacier used to be much MUCH bigger before, but as the sun gets hotter, the ice melts too.

We went back to downtown Juneau and had lunch at Deckhand Daves after the glacier tour. We had fresh halibut fish and chips. It was very delicious! When you visit Alaska, you have to try their local foods; salmon, king crab, Dungeness crab, reindeer sausage, among others. But Reindeer sausage is not for me. 😂

After our tummies were full, we had fuel to walk around and visit the souvenir shops. We bought t-shirts and hats to be gifted to people, so that they could walk around and act like they’ve gone to Alaska. XD Then while we were walking, we stumbled upon a place called, Manila Square. It is an area dedicated for the Filipinos that lived/have lived in Alaska. My mom is from the Philippines; Manila is the capital city. In the square, they even have a statue of Jose Rizal, Philippines’ national hero. According to Wikipedia Filipinos arrived in Alaska as early as 1788. They came to Alaska as sailors on American whaling ships; as ore sorters for gold mines in Juneau and Douglas Island; and as salmon cannery workers.

After all the sightseeing and shopping, it’s time to go back to the ship. It was a great day to spend my first day in Alaska! Nice and sunny, very educational, and fun! Next post will be another city in Alaska so stay tuned!

Until next time…. Watch my Youtube video if you want a good laugh!