About a year ago during a visit with our daughter, Martha in Colorado, she guided us on a trip to the Grand Canyon. On the way back she commented, “Mom we should go on another trip”. Where would you like to go? I suspect that she was thinking along the lines of a bucket list. I rather reluctantly responded the first place that came to mind “Uh, Alaska”, maybe because it starts with an A. I think I also suggested Hawaii.

Being of the digital social media generation, she immediately was on her smart phone and started the arrangements. Therefore, for a couple of weeks in June this year, we were in Alaska, landing in Fairbanks where we were met by our tour guide and bus driver, who were awesome with information about flora, fauna and wild life.

In Fairbanks we had an up close view of the oil pipeline, that runs from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. We also had a paddle boat cruise on the Chena river where we were able to visit an authentic Athabaskan village and see a lady working her sled dogs. We took a tour bus to Denali National Park, a beautiful ride. While touring through the park, we were privileged to see plenty of moose, Dahl sheep, fox, hares and a mother grizzly bear with her two cubs.

We then took a train (first class with vista cruise type car and great dining car service) to Anchorage and then on to Seward by bus. In Seward we cruised the fjord to see sea otters, orca whales, humpback whales and a close up of a calving glacier (not an animal but a hunk of ice). The weather was beautiful and the only wildlife we didn’t see were mosquitos.

I would strongly encourage a trip to Alaska. I do think you would want to have a good guide, and would recommend Trafalgar. With twenty-two hours of daylight, seeing the sights is a given.

Our daughter is now suggesting that our next tour be Africa. That starts with A also, but I’m not so keen on that. Maybe too much wildlife.