I am extremely happy that I got to see this part of the United States because without my family's RV, it probably wouldn't have ever happened. Visiting Alaska outside of a ski resort can be extremely complicated because everything is very far away no matter where you are and of course, it is deadly cold here a lot of the year. Hell, it is July right now and the middle of summer and people are still all zipped up including wearing wooly caps. I'm probably a bit colder than most of the locals but wow is the scenery here amazing.
This isn't really even a cherry-picked photo either. You can look in just about any direction anywhere in this country and see sights like these. Everything is so quiet and pristine as well but I will say this: Do NOT get in the water. Even though it is summer time the water is freezing.
We did spot some people that a were fishing and they were fully decked out in waterproof gear as well as very warm clothes. Believe it or not this is the warmest time of year in Alaska, but for me my fingers are cold just about all the time. We did find some nice places to sit and enjoy a beer in the sun though.
is it good? I don't know. To me it tastes like any other pilsner. It was a wonderful place to have a beer though and unlike where I would normally drink a beer in the tropics, I wasn't sweating my ass off either.
Although a bit out of focus and sloppy, that picture is pretty iconic of the entire area. It is truly gorgeous here and the combination of cool temps, wonderful scenery, and near complete silence is absolutely wonderful.
Due to wildlife, it isn't advised to just go a wandering, so we stayed near the approved fenced in areas that are monitored by authorities and game wardens or something. But yet again you can see those wonderful mountains in the distance even when you are staring out to sea. I was told that these mountains are active, but resting volcanoes.
The nature here is like nowhere else I have been in the world and I am just so thankful that I got to see it during the perfect time of year. In a few months it will be snowing again and by the time November hits only the most grizzled of people will be able to endure the winter. This is likely the only time in my life that I will ever get to see this place but now I totally understand why those Alaskan cruise ships are so popular. It always seemed odd to me that someone would go on a Carnival Cruise in a temperature where they cannot use the swimming pools, but now I get it.
If you have an RV and live in North America you really should make it an objective to get up to Alaska at some point. It's expensive, but if you bring your own house on wheels you can dodge a lot of the costs. As you might expect hotels are absurdly expensive here so at least for me, this is really the only way that I could ever visit here.