While every state in America is beautiful in their own way, whether it be cities, oceans, or forests, Alaska is the most beautiful in my opinion. As we all know, pictures don’t do justice to the beautiful landscapes we see. So if you see a beautiful picture of Alaska, just know that it is better in real life.
Alaska has glaciers, mountains, forests, northern lights, plains, cities, rivers, and oceans. It has everything. The best time to visit is in June and July. The seasons in Alaska are either Summer or Winter, there’s not a whole lot of in-between. I visited in the middle of July. The weather in July should feel like a moderate summer day in Michigan. When I was there, it was more like a Spring day. I had to wear a light jacket most of the time but I didn’t mind. During the Summer months Alaska has a 24 hour day, but they have great shades for when you sleep.
Juneau is the capital and should be one of the places you visit. Not only because it’s the capital or because it’s beautiful, every city is beautiful in Alaska, but because there is also a glacier. Mendenhall Glacier is 12 miles from downtown Juneau and is 13.6 miles long. There is a great outlook place on the other side of the river from it. This is a great glacier to visit to really understand what it is and how it works. You can perfectly see the run off from the mountain leading to it and you can see it running back out of the ice into the water to even falling off. Another great place for glaciers is Glacier Bay near the lower part of Alaska under the Klondike Gold Rush. You would most likely see this if you were on a cruise ship, then you would see the Margerie Glacier which is the one cruise ships usually go for. This is a great glacier if you really want to see the ice break off and fall into the water.
Glacier Bay National Park-04.jpg
The best place to visit, in my opinion, is Denali National Park. The best way to experience this is to take a bus tour through the park. The bus will take you through the plains and mountains of the park, it will also stop or slow down so you can clearly see any wild animals you come across such as caribou, moose, and brown bear. Not to mention the great lookout spots like the one for Denali, formerly known as Mt. McKinley. Denali is the highest mountain peak in North America with 20,310 feet above sea level. Viewing this huge mountain on a normal day would lead you to question about where it ends in the sky. It’s so tall that you can’t even see the peak because of clouds. It takes an exceptionally clear sunny day to see the peak, a running joke is that if you want to see the peak, then look at the Denali calendar picture.
The calendar picture:
280px-Wonder_Lake_and_Denali.jpg
A regular day picture:
220px-Mount_McKinley_Shrouded_2048px.jpg
One of the many things Alaska is famous for is the Iditarod. The sled dog race form Anchorage to Nome is 1,150 miles long and lasts 8-15 days or more.
https://create.piktochart.com/output/33756020-new-piktochart
While going to the event, which takes place in March, would be amazing, it would also be very cold. So the alternative is to see sled dog demonstrations at Denali National Park. When I was there, Rick Swenson was giving a talk at a park kennel with one of his lead dogs Mouse. Rick Swenson is known as the “King of the Iditarod” with 5 wins and 24 top 10s. There are literally hundreds of dogs at each kennel and you can pet most of them. They also have pens with puppies of all ages. I suggest visiting the live puppy cam to experience the cuteness at home. They also have sleds on wheels to give you a ride through the forest in the summer an they teach you about the different commands and parts of the sled. It’s very informative, interesting, and cute dogs that love their jobs.
My favorite part of Alaska, is all the animals. From moose, caribou, bears, whales, and the dogs. My favorite animal memories is whale watching and seeing a humpback whale, seeing the mother brown bear and her two cubs during the Denali bus tour, and the dog sled demonstration.
What is your favorite traveling animal memory?
Kenzie's Travel Blog 
