My trip to the North Pole

I have been to Santa Claus' house at the North Pole. Okay, maybe not 'the' North Pole, but North Pole, Alaska.

When I was fourteen years old my Grandpa and aunts, Gail and Roxann, took us on an awesome adventure. We drove to Bellingham, Washington where we boarded the Alaskan Ferry MV Columbia. My parents flew to Washington, took the vehicle we had driven up there and drove it to Alaska.

We boarded the ferry with our bikes and backpacks. For a week we rode the ferry and then got off at different cities in Alaska's inland passage. Some nights we camped on land other nights we camped on the ferry. They allow you to set up a tent on the deck of the boat and sleep there. Interesting, huh? If you want a cabin, you have to pay a whole lot extra for it.

The cities we visited were St. Petersburg, Ketchikan, Sitka, Wrangell, and Juneau.

Sitka was my favorite city. I think that we had to ride our bikes seven miles from the ferry terminal to the city. (It probably wasn't that far, but in my memory it seemed like a very long way.) In Sitka we walked in the woods through a totem pole park. We came upon a river where I remember watching a bald eagle swoop down and pick up a fish out of the water. Alaska has a lot of Russian influence and I remember in Sitka there was a gorgeous Russian Orthodox church. We also got to watch a Russian dancing performance.

Sorry my details aren't the greatest. I was only fourteen, that was eighteen years ago. It's hard to remember details, but at the same time I think I didn't truly appreciate what an awesome opportunity was given me to go on a trip to Alaska. So, I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have while I was there.

After a week traveling and exploring the Inside Passage we disembarked the ferry in Haines, Alaska where my parents picked us up. I think after that we headed to North Pole, where my aunt and uncle lived because my uncle was in the Air Force and was stationed at a military base near North Pole (just outside of Fairbanks). We met up with the rest of my mom's extended family. Everybody was there, but my aunt Shari and her family because she had just had a baby. Anyway, for the next couple of weeks my family drove around Alaska camping in a tent trailer, motorhome, and tents. We did a lot of driving. I remember doing a lot of sleeping because I got easily carsick, so I took Dramamine a lot which knocked me out.

We went to Denali (Mt McKinley National Park) where we rode a school bus for hours on a dirt rode to see Denali, only to have it covered by clouds. We went halibut fishing in Valdez aboard a gorgeous sail boat. We went digging for clams. We took another ferry from Valdez to Portage so we could see the Columbia Glacier and then we took a train ride from Portage to Whittier, where other people in our group had driven to so they could pick us up.

A seriously awesome adventure!

And when my immediate family headed home, I stayed in Alaska for a couple of weeks and hung out with my aunt and uncle and their two kids. My first morning sleeping at their house I woke up in the morning, looked out the window and there was a moose. My aunt and uncle let me ride one of their bikes and pull their kids in a trailer all around North Pole, Alaska.

I hope someday to take my kids on an awesome Alaskan Adventure. Randomly sometimes I price how much it would cost. It would probably be cheaper to take a cruise to Alaska (considering the food and a bed was provided), but I would love to do the Alaskan ferry trip so they could have a similar experience that I did.