Written By: Rachel Gnagy
Hello, friends! I hope you are enjoying your 90+ degree weather in Nebraska. I am currently basking in 40-50 degree weather here in Alaska! It’s perfect. =)
My family (minus the three little girls) is on an Alaskan cruise to celebrate my parents’ 25th anniversary. We are all loving it. The ship is wonderful (although no free Wifi is causing my brother and I some stress!) and the scenery is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I’d like to share some of the pictures I’ve been able to take so far.
I’ve never seen so many mountains before. I love cruising through inlets and bays and being surrounded by hundreds of snow-capped peaks. The flat surface of the ocean and the great heights of the mountain ranges provide quite a contrast. Alaska is home to Mount McKinley, the highest point in all of North America at 20,320. I’d love to see McKinley someday!
The wildlife here is fantastic. So far we have seen orcas, porpoises, humpback whales, bald eagles, and sea lions. It’s so different to see animals like these in their natural environment rather than in an aquarium or zoo. And since we just celebrated the Fourth of July, it’s only fitting that I share a picture of a soaring eagle with you!
We went whale watching in Juneau and were able to see quite a few humpback whales. What a fun experience! An adult humpback whale grows to be around 45 feet long (about the size of the bus we took to get to the tour!) and weigh anywhere from 25 tons to 35 tons. We never got to see any ‘breach’ (where they leap out of the water) but we did get to see a lot of tails!
The water near Glacier Bay was absolutely beautiful. I love the reflections in this picture. The blue of the sky blends into the aqua of the water and the mountains look gorgeous. We spent an entire day cruising Glacier Bay. Most of us were outside the entire day just taking in the scenery.
This trip has been such a blessing for us. We are with a group from Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll’s ministry. We’ve had worship and preaching from Chuck everyday. It’s been wonderful to hear from God’s Word everyday and then walk outside and see views like this. I am thankful that the Lord gave our family this opportunity!
“Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgements are like the great deep…”
Psalm 36:5-6