Mendenhall Glacier

In the summer of 2022, I *finally* was able to cruise to Alaska, along with 3 generations of my family! We were impacted like so many by the Covid shut down- we were originally planning to cruise to Alaska in 2021. That obviously got cancelled by the cruise line. We had already booked a summer 2022 cruise by that point, so we rescheduled our Alaska cruise for 2023. Then, our summer 2022 cruise got canceled, so we moved Alaska up by a year!

It exceeded my expectations in every way! As I was looking at the scenery to the side of the ship, I said to my family that even though I was looking at it with my own eyes, it didn't even look real! More beautiful that I ever could imagine once I was seeing it in person. We opted to sail out of Vancouver, as we really wanted to explore that city prior to our cruise. We loved the Capilano suspension bridge, Grouse Mountain, Stanley Park, and Granville Island.

We had a young child with us, so our excursions were geared to be good for any age. Highlights of what we did during our cruise included:

*whale watching cruise (where we also saw otters, bald eagles, and seals)

*dog sledding (which was so much faster than I imagined! I was laughing the whole time and holding my son down even though we were seat-belted in)

*panning for gold (my son's favorite activity! You really do get gold flakes)

*visiting the National park in Sitka and seeing all the Totem poles

*seeing the Mendenhall gardens (really beautiful, with a steep ride up!)

*taking a tour to the Mendenhall Glacier (pictured below, so beautiful!)

I'm a huge believer in taking the trip and making memories. It was so wonderful not only to experience the beauty that is Alaska, but to also be able to spend so much time together as a large family group. Those memories will stick with all of us forever! I've taken countless cruises in various parts of the world, and I think cruising Alaska may just be my favorite!

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