Ohh The Great Outdoors!

They say before you die you have to see Alaska… and boy I tell you what, it is so true! During the summer of 2007 I got to visit that very place. As ship sliced through the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean, the picturesque land became incredibly apparent. We docked between two glaciers and I got to observe Mother Nature at her finest, the water was so blue, the ice was so white, and the land was untouched. As our trip progress I got the chance the pan for gold, that to this day I still have… I was actually the one out of the entire group that collected the gold that was worth the most, and boy was I proud of my $17.68 appraisal! Next on our adventure was to hit the great Bearing Sea. You don’t know cold, until you’ve splashed your face with the lightly salted waters of that Sea for sure. My dad and I boarded Destiny and due west we went! It was and hour or two until we got our first nibble, I yanked the reel, and sure enough I caught the first salmon! I cranked it in and threw it on the deck of the boat as the tour guide gaffed it and everything… As another hour passed right on by I began to see a ring of bubbled develop around our boat, I asked the guide what it was and he and he gasped as he yelled, “wow!” He later informed us that they were great blue whales circled under water blowing bubble so they could confuse the fish in the ring and eat them… The sight got even more spectacular when the whales service not even ten feet from our boat! And since weren’t technically a “whale watcher tour boat” we didn’t have to obey the 50 yard distance limit, it was unbelievable! The whales continued to circle our boat for another thirty minutes and the audience of Whale Watcher boats had constructed. Ten more salmon completed our fishing trip and off they went to get processed and mailed back to good old Florida! Our next stop was Denali National Park, home of Mount McKinley. It is very rare that one can see the top of the mountain from the reserve because the cloud are constantly hiding it, but hey what do you know, they day we arrive we got to witness the entire mountain bright as day! It was breath taking! Later we hopped on some horses and headed up that very mountain to behold its beauty first hand. I said some prayers beneath my breathe as the guide explained to us that he was armed with a fully loaded shotgun just incase we happened to run into any bears… The next few days were devoted to travel through the great lands of Alaska and an incredible plane ride through the deep blue colored glaciers. Of course my family and me also did a little shopping and I even sent some wooden post card back home! A trip to the Yukon ended our Alaskan adventure and the extraordinary view said it all, the grace and gentle beauty of the great outdoors literally took my breath away and that was a trip I will never forget!