Trip report by a teenager - Part 1

I would like to share with you our Alaska trip report that my 14 yr old son put together. I hope that the reports will entertain you.

TRIP REPORT - ALASKA JULY 2008

Introduction

My family (Mom, Dad, sister Alex and me) has disappeared for 12 days, with four individual little suitcases, in July 2008, to the 49th state of America -Alaska.

The trip included 5 days around Anchorage and 7 days cruising on the Celebrity Millennium, boarding in Seward, visiting the ports of Juneau, Skagway, Hoonah, Ketchikan, and ending in Vancouver.

On the Way.

Our adventure began oddly in the afternoon (very inconvenient) where after last minute packing we caught our Delta 4:30pm flight to Salt Lake City, Utah and connect to Anchorage which is the biggest city in Alaska and its state sport is Dog Mushing.

We quickly boarded (though before boarding we saw a kid have his fingers mauled on an escalator). It was an easy flight for 4 hours until we arrived at Salt Lake City.

At the Salt Lake City airport we caught a few minutes of the beautiful mountain range views until we boarded again towards Anchorage for another 4 hours flight.

Once we arrived at Anchorage in Ted Stevens Airport (a senator since 1968) at midnight, we were all tired and we couldn’t be bothered with the many little attractions (largest cod, stuffed polar bear, more fish). Mom still insisted on making Alex and I pose for a picture at the “Welcome to Alaska” sign.

We grabbed our luggage and hurried off to rent our car where we were met with cool weather around 15 deg C. After waiting a half an hour for minivan (the car wasn’t cleaned yet) we finally headed to our Sheraton Anchorage where we deserved a well earned sleep.

Day 1- Anchorage

After a well earned 5 hour sleep we were met with painful early sunlight, compliments of Dad (who opened the curtains). We decided to eat at the hotel buffet where there was so-so food with the introduction of reindeer sausage though Mom thought the food was horrendous.

Today was a bit cool and windy but still bearable. We then drove off on our wild adventure to Wal-Mart where Dad was so happy to buy undershirts, Coke and hats. Finally we left and then we went straight to a book store where Mom bought a book of coupons (Northern Light) that offered discounts to the many interesting attractions such as restaurants, museums, glacier cruise tours and dog sledding.

Then we took a scenic drive to an abandoned park where we saw multiple moose. Once we arrived at the park, we went off the beaten path and went on our on trail, not the best idea, since our path did not lead us to the shore but instead a Disc Golf course.

After that we headed out again towards Earthquake Park. Earthquake Park commemorating the biggest earthquake in North America, the Good Friday Earthquake which occurred on 1964’s Good Friday. At the park there were many dragon flies and more scary to look at, senior citizens. There was information on the earthquake and views of the shore but more importantly a giant dragon fly landed on Dad’s shoulder followed by Mom’s sounds of disgust.

We set off again leaving the senior citizens in our dust and explored the town. We stopped at a store called the Ulu Factory which make ulu knives which are unique Inuit all purpose knives whether it be used for cutting food, haircuts or building igloos.

The store offered a free trolley around town so since we couldn’t pass up free stuff we took the trolley to see the interesting streets of Anchorage which is packed full of magnificent old people. After our uneventful tour we set off to the streets ourselves.

As soon as we hit the streets we went straight for a gift shop (no surprise there), then we bought ourselves a cruise tour at Prince William Sound (50% off) to see the glaciers.

Alex and I couldn’t resist the hot dog stand that was next to our car so we had an early dinner of reindeer dogs which we enjoyed so much.

By then we were exhausted (it was only 6pm) so we headed back to Sheraton to get try to get an early sleep when the sun was out at 10pm.

Day 2- Anchorage

Today was another slow day as we were waken up by doing push ups. We slowly got up and got ready to eat at the a good café (Country Kitchen) near the hotel and Mom fortunately had a coupon for it.

So after enjoying a filling meal we headed towards the Native Heritage Center which explained the traditions and living environment of many different Alaskan Natives.

After watching an interesting introduction of sports in Alaska (such as caribou wrestling, finger pulling and stand up jumps), we joined a tour that went around the outside that displayed the many houses of different Alaskan tribes. The tour guide gave many interesting facts such as that Inuit in Alaska never built igloos. While at the same time we saw many unique houses such as an underground shelter, a longhouse which you had to enter through the top and some with very efficient designs.

After that we drove back into town for lunch where a nice little restaurant which offered all you can eat King Crab. Next we drove off to the famous Anchorage Museum which offered many interesting facts about the history of Anchorage and fish skin jackets. The museum was really interesting as it was often interactive and very entertaining.

Once we finished our side venture we headed to the 5th Avenue Mall where Mom had to buy Russian nesting dolls. After trying on various clothing we gave up and just decided to go back to the hotel. But on the way Dad forced us to stop so he could buy a jacket we spotted yesterday but were reluctant to buy. Finally we returned to our room where we saw the midnight sunset.

Day 3- Palmer

Today we were forced to wake up by 9:00 to eat as we were to catch wild water rafting later on at 1:00. We attempted to eat at the Alaska famous “Snow City café” which was ranked best breakfast in Anchorage. The long wait was not expected by Mom so we just went to find another breakfast place to eat. We eventually found a small cozy restaurant in which Mom and I both ate delicious seafood omelets.

Then after slowly freshening up we headed on a road trip far from Anchorage to the small town of Palmer where we stopped multiple times for attractions.

Our first stop was the famous vegetable garden which supposedly contained extraordinary sized vegetables (it didn’t). Then later on to a small Russian village which cost $20 to see an old church, tombstones and a couple houses. We skipped it and went to a muskox farm which is the only known place to breed muskox. Musk ox look similar to buffalo and bison though its closest relation is the goat (which is really odd). We had a nervous tour guide who had a funny laugh that gave a short but informative tour of the farm.

By that time we were running behind schedule so we sped off towards the whitewater rafting centre and bought ourselves last minute tickets.

We went to the meeting point to get suited up; we wore dry suits that kept all the water out, boots and a helmet.

We were driven in a van to Lion Head River and were ready to go off on our exhilarating 5 km Class 3 and 4 raft ride. Our family got a boat alone with only another teenager named Eric who strangely was alone.

The leader who steered us toured us through the beautiful river which is surrounded by spectacular scenery of mountains, glaciers and forests. The ride eventually got rough with waves hitting constantly and splashing us in the face. The ride was long and by the end our unprotected hands were frozen.

Alex and I really enjoyed the ride but Mom insisted that we never whitewater raft again. We took a couple pictures with Eric and bought a CD of photos and we were off.

We planned to eat dinner after our long drive back to Anchorage so we decided to eat at a Mongolian restaurant that luckily had a coupon to it. The restaurant offered a Mongolian BBQ along with the buffet. The chef at the BBQ was skilled and fun to watch but on the whole, the food was mediocre and only Dad enjoyed the meal for some unknown reason.

We quickly headed back to the Sheraton so that we could finally get some rest after our long and tiring day.

Day 4- Whittier, Prince Williams Sound

Today we headed out to Whittier (which has a population of 182) to go on for a glacier tour. We somehow managed to leave by 9:00 to eventually get to the docks in Prince Williams Sound at 2:00 to catch our boat. We then drove for hours in the misty rain towards Whittier, stopping many times along the to see many scenic lakes and mountain ranges.

By the time we got close to our destination we were forced to wait at a tunnel that leads into PWS but was only one-way so every half an hour cars and trains went through in a different direction.

Once we arrived into town we boarded our boat and got ready for a wild adventure. Our first stop was lunch: crab cakes and cookies (they were actually very good).

On our cruise we saw many playful otters and many glaciers such as the Blackstone Glacier (it does not have black stone, the scientist was Blackstone). The glaciers were absolutely fascinating with the rare occurrences of calving which is when parts of the glacier fall onto the water.

Along our trip we also got a surprise waterfall trip and we bought 2 packs of nuts and gummies that together are worth $10.00 together.

Once we returned to shore we drove back to Anchorage. We craved dinner so as usual we went to a Vietnamese restaurant which was packed and the food was very good with a variety of meat and curry and also the owner talked too much.

Afterwards we returned to the hotel, settled back in our room and watched the romantic midnight sunset.

Day 5- Seward, Celebrity Millennium

Today was the day to say goodbye to Anchorage as we were ready to go onto our cruise this evening.

Now we headed out towards the town of Seward, the town in which 13 year old Benny Benson designed the state flag. It took a few hours to get there but the scenery along the way was magnificent.

Once we arrived we went straight to the dock, not to board our cruise, but to drop off our luggage.

We had time so we visited the Sea Life Aquarium in which we saw various interesting sea life animals such as the walrus, many species of fish, sea lions and the strange puffins that are birds that dive underwater for food. We saw many interesting species and it easily passed the time.

Afterwards we returned our car and boarded our beautiful cruise ship Celebrity Millennium that weighs 91,000 gross tons.

We received our individual key cards and went straight towards our interior room among the only 200 interior rooms on the ship (what an honour). We met our Indian steward named Elton (John?).

We had a couple hours before the usual evacuation drill so Alex and I did a thorough exploration of the ship while Mom and Dad did a thorough investigation of the buffet. We gathered together for the drill and were forced to suffer a quick crowded lecture.

Surprisingly we were hungry so we went to Metropolitan Restaurant for open seated dinner. The food was so-so compared to the Carnival Liberty.

While Alex went to the teen club, Mom and Dad slept and I went for a night stroll. Once I returned we waited for Alex and finally got to sleep on our bunks.

Trip report by a teenager - Part 1

Very well done report. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It was very informative as well as interesting!! Great job!!!

Trip report by a teenager - Part 1

Great informative trip reports, really funny at times too.

Glad you had such a great trip. What a wonderful family memory it will be. Thanks for sharing.

Wonderful report and very funny too. My teen would relate to a lot of things that were said.

thank you for posting your comments on the report. I am glad you enjoyed it.

Here is the link to part 2 of the report in case you are interested:

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g28923-i349-k25870…

It%26#39;s great to get a teen%26#39;s point of view. It was easy to tell the author was a young male, though: everything revolved around food! :-))

He has a delightful way of telling his story. Please pass along our thanks for his sharing it with us!