Recap Alaska. Many beautiful things, both of nature and of humans.

Many of you have been asking what all I did in Alaska, and my response is typically "What DIDN'T I do??"

Flight there:7 hours. Painfully long to sit still :( The guy I was sitting next to either didn't speak English or didn't like me..either way, he wouldn't talk to me!

Day 1:Found a quaint coffee shop in Anchorage called Kaladi Brothers Coffee that was the best coffee I've ever had. I was then walking around by myself and I couldn't figure out why all the shops were closed. It was still light out, so I asked someone what time it was, and it was about midnight haha. Getting used to the long days was pretty challenging.

Day 2:Went on a 5 hour train ride. Again, painfully long, but saw some BEAUTIFUL sights, including a sweet lady that I started talking to. Her name was Betty. She was retired from General motors and has been on about 15 cruises, and plans on traveling until she dies because "Life is too short to do anything other than what you love, and I love traveling."

We then board the ship.

In Juneau, my dad and I decide to do our own thing and go on a 4 hour guided hike to the top of a mountain to get a perfect view of Mendonhall Glacier. In the process, I was, indeed, forced to wear a fanny pack. There is no bridge to Juneau, so their saying there is "There are only 3 ways to get here. By boat, plane, or birth canal.".....it's alright, took me a minute to get it also.

At Icy Strait Point, my dad, brother, and I go zip lining on the worlds longest zip line. Talk about a rush. It was absolutely incredible. Most people have a bucket list with various items on it, I have a "Things that will make me die young" list. Zip lining was on that list.

In Skagway, I just walk around all day, find a couple of trails to walk on. It was more tourist trap-ish, so I didn't enjoy it as much. (Refer to below picture.)

In Ketchikan, I wanted to cross another thing off of my list, so my Mom and I decided to go snorkeling....in ALASKA!! I've been snorkeling a few times before, but never in Alaska! We were wearing wet suits, so no we were not cold. However, the wet suits were very restrictive and were pretty difficult to swim in...when I say they were difficult to swim in, I mean I couldn't really move my arms. As we're snorkeling along, our guide stops us and says something about lethal jellyfish and safe jellyfish, but I couldn't hear them over the waves. So I'm swimming along and all of the sudden I'm like "wow..there's some sort of trash or something floating around me." it was EVERYWHERE! Upon looking closer, I realized it was actually little white jellyfish, about the size of my fist. A little freakout moment and some salt water in my snorkel later, and I was alright. So we keep swimming along, and I look over and see a baby seal on the shore about the size of a small dog. I ask the guide what was up with it, and they think its mom died because it just sits there on shore and they've never seen it's mom before. after I soak my goggles with my tears (kidding..it was sad though!) I keep snorkeling along, and about that time a jellyfish that was the size of my head swims right under me, and this one is a reddish brownish color. I then ask the guide which one I was supposed to avoid, and he said the reddish brownish one haha. Anyways, the tour ends, and I finally get that stupid wet suit off..

On the ship, every night I was either on the dance floor or in the casino. One evening, I played an adult scavenger hunt that included finding two pairs of males pants, getting into your favorite "position" with a teammate (which just so happened to be my brothers mother in law. Talk about awkward!!) upon many other strange yet really fun things! Another evening, I played battle of the sexes and had to make contact with complete strangers to pop balloons that were under my shirt..without using our hands. Just use your imagination on that one...it was another adult game.

Here's something really cool that happened though. One night, I was sitting at the bar in the casino talking to Richard the bartender (coolest guy ever) and I glance over my shoulder and see this guy walking around from person to person trying to talk to everyone, and they were all just blowing him off. He walks up to me, and I realize he was in his later 20's, and was special needs. His form of communication was using his hands and facial expressions and making noises, but he wasn't able to actually talk. So I started chatting with him, and his dad came over and apologized to me for him, to which I responded "no, really, It's alright." So all throughout the week, Brian would see me and get really excited and wave and so I would go over to him and talk to him. On the last night, I was talking to Richard and Brian comes up behind me and taps me on the shoulder, so I turn around and he gets really excited and gives me a hug. His Dad then thanks me for being so nice to him all week.

My heart was lit up with sheer happiness. I realized that was the most important thing I could bring home with me. Forget all the beautiful sights of nature I saw, the sexy fanny pack I wore(refer to picture), the oh-so-incredible eagles I saw..forget all that. The most beautiful sight I saw was Brian. The lesson I'm bringing home? Don't just pass someone off because everyone else is. They may just be the most beautiful sight you could see.

The sight of Alaska was stunning, but I was more stunned at the fact that beauty is truly everywhere. It's just up to me to see it.