As I have just completed an inner passage tour of Alaska, the purchase of which was once known as Seward’s Folly, I will admit to Sherri’s Folly.
Alaska was never on my bucket list of places to go. My husband, Neville, has always wanted to visit our 49th state, especially after my son Brett and family moved to Seattle. But Brett has been in Seattle 11 years now, and I kept finding other places to visit that kept Alaska off the list.
My reasons were strictly selfish Sherri reasons. One is that I am not an outdoorsy person. I don’t hike, ski, canoe (ask the Leadership Blount Class of 2016 why), kayak, dog sled, fish or rock climb. Another is that while I love beautiful vistas, I am usually bored with looking at trees and mountains after a short time. The primary reason, however, is that I am always cold, even in Tennessee, and I hate being cold.
My folly was in thinking that all of those selfish Sherri reasons would keep me from enjoying time in Alaska. Honestly, this Alaskan cruise happened for two reasons: To prepare me for a group cruise to Alaska I am hosting in June of 2022 and to simply fulfill my overwhelming desire to get back on a ship.
Last week I told you how rewarding, albeit somewhat different, the cruising experience was. After seven days on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas, all of our party of two Melendys and two Howells were totally happy and satisfied with our first cruising experience since January 2020. I did not want to get off the boat.
But Alaska? Well, it was simply astounding.
Our first introduction was sailing through Endicott Arm to the Dawes Glacier. I was so mesmerized by the water filled with chunks of ice and the icy and snowy landscape all around us that I stood outside on the ship’s heliport pad (very cold) for more than 2 hours. When the blue-ice of the Dawes Glacier came into view, it was breathtakingly beautiful. The captain sent a ship to gather some ice to bring back onboard, displaying the huge chunk in a net on the pool deck for all to see and touch.
Dawes Glacier from the helipad of Serenade of the Seas
Dawes Glacier, which is just off Stephens Passage seaway, is thought to be 10,000 years old. It is 15 miles long and has an elevation of 2,800 feet. The ice looks blue because it is so dense that it absorbs all the rays of light except the blue, which reflects back to our eyes. It was amazing to see it, along with the raft of sea lions floating lazily by on a chunk of the glacier.
We visited Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan in Alaska. Each city/town had its own charm, and the guides we had on our excursions were knowledgeable and filled with stories about their cities. Sitki and Ketchikan each have a population of just over 8,000 people, while Juneau, the third largest city in Alaska, has just over 32,000.
We learned about the native tribes of Alaska, the meaning of totems (they were never worshiped but told a family’s history), more about whales, salmon and sea otters than I will ever need to know. The salmon’s spawning instinct to return to the place of birth is incredible. The migration and habits of the whales give you a respect for the intelligence of these huge creatures.
We learned many “fun facts” as well, such as the price of a Big Mac in Sitka ($13 for the sandwich only) and that the McDonalds in Juneau still holds the franchise record for most hamburgers sold on opening day – drawing customers by plane, boat and helicopter from all across the Inner Passage. Matter of fact, they sold so many, they had to close for the next two days to wait for supplies to be delivered – something that doesn’t happen every day in Juneau.
But after all was seen and processed, it was the beauty of Alaska that I look forward to seeing again. From the Tongass National Forest to the breathtaking Mendenhall Glacier to the many water-passages that cut through the inner circle, it is truly a beautiful state.
Turns out Seward got quite a bargain from the purchase from Russia – especially at two-cents per acre.
Sherri Gardner Howell has been writing about family life for newspapers and magazines since 1987. She lives in West Knoxville, is married to Neville Howell and has two sons and three grandsons. Her newest adventure is as a travel agent with her own company, SGH Go Travel. Email her at sghgotravel@outlook.com.