A few weeks ago, I was able to take my wife on our honeymoon to complete the last three of four states she needed to visit before her next birthday. We were able to package three states (Alaska, Oregon, and Washington) for the honeymoon trip which left New Mexico as the remaining state. I thought this would be a pretty cool honeymoon as it would help her finish her goal and it would take me the farthest west that I have ever been.
Knowing that we were going to make this trip, I decided to start gathering the necessary photographic tools for our trip. I started first with picking up an additional 16GB SanDisk CF Extreme III Memory Card, ThinkTank Pixel Pocket Rocket memory card case, and an extra Canon LP-E6 battery from Adorama. These definitely came in handy later in the trip as I didn’t need to worry about having enough shots left and enough power to run my equipment in the “wilderness.” I combined that with my Canon 5D Mark II camera and my Canon 580EX II flash with Gary Fong Lightsphere and Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce flash accessories and I was pretty much set.
This story is going to take three parts to cover and today we are going to cover Part I: Alaska.
We arrived into Anchorage, AK at about 10:00pm and the first thing I noticed is that it was still very bright outside (looked like 2pm EST). We decided to grab some dinner and then we walked around as I took some photos. It was very different to see people out playing soccer and just doing things you would normally do in an afternoon setting back on the East Coast.
We had a few days to visit Downtown Anchorage before we took the Alaska Railroad to Seward to take our day cruise. The city has such character and every corner we visited had something unique and “foreign.”
We also had the chance to visit the Alaska Zoo and saw some amazing creatures up-close.
We then embarked on our four-hour train ride from Anchorage to Seward on the Alaska Railroad. We were fortunate enough to be sitting in the last train cart and I was able to stand out the back and take photos without having to shoot behind dirty windows. The train ride was absolutely beautiful. We were able to see Bald Eagles in their natural habitat, black bears, and some amazing glaciers and mountain side waterfalls.
Once we arrived in Seward, we were immediately shuttled to our cruise ship where we would spend the next six hours in awe of nature’s beauty. As we left the dock, we saw a sea otter just relaxing in the freezing ocean watching us as we passed by. We then started our tour of the surrounding islands and saw sea lions, puffins (my new favorite bird), and starfish to name a few.
Nature was very alive that day. So much so that we got to see a rare showing of marine mammal activity: humpback whales and orcas! The humpbacks were in rare form as they decided to give us a show of their mighty fins and there acrobatic abilities to jump out of the water. It was quite the show considering that we were literally 10 feet away from all the action.
After that amazing show, we went searching for more marine mammal activity and came across an orca family in search of salmon. They did not have the same activity of the humpbacks but we got to see how they hunted and how crystal clear the water actually was. The captain placed an underwater microphone and we got to hear how they communicated. It was also need to see a straight dorsal fin instead of the curved ones you would see from captive orcas.
Now it was time to see some of Earth’s oldest formations: glaciers! You see these kind of things on Discovery Channel but even HD does not do it justice. As we approached the biggest glacier, the temperature drastically changed (it was normally 67 but it was like 45-50 as we got closer). The glacier also seemed to get even bigger as we got closer (it was over 2 miles wide). We stopped the boat for what looked like 10 feet away but was actually a football field away. As we looked at the glacier, it started to “cap” (break apart) which was equally awesome and sad.
We returned from the cruise and went to find some great seafood. In the process, we caught a charter boat coming back in and saw the fisherman go to action in cleaning and preparing the fish. It was a pretty cool sight.
The city of Seward has a rich history with regards to fishing and you could definitely see it after walking the entire city that day. We returned to Anchorage and had another day to explore. From friends’ suggestions, we were able to squeeze every last minute of our first state.
Check back in later as I cover Part II of our trip, Washington.
Go Gators!
