ESCAPE THE HEAT

By Melissa Whitton

Has the heat gotten under your skin? If so, it may be time to plan a getaway for next July. If you’re looking for ideal places to escape to—I’d recommend Alaska. Last month my husband, Steve, and I spent two weeks exploring Alaska—7 days on a cruise, and the rest traveling from Anchorage to Fairbanks.

While the temperatures soared above 115 degrees in the Valley of the Sun, we experienced temperatures ranging from 52-80 degrees. Our cruise started in Vancouver, and stopped in Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway, Alaska. Then we cruised through Glacier Bay National Park and spent an evening in College Fjord during our days at sea.

The chilly breezes while at sea were a great change of scenery from the heat of the desert. The opportunity to see wildlife up close was unbelievable—we saw bald eagles, a few moose, Orca whales, sea lions and sea otters. Our favorite part of our journey, however, was seeing the glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park, and College Fjord.

Once we disembarked from the ship, we took a train to Talkeetna, then spent several days traveling Denali National Park. While we didn’t see a full view of Mt. Denali—many on our tour did—they say only 10 percent of visitors to Denali will actually see the mountain. During our land journey, we learned about the history of Alaska, and how residents survive the -70 degree temperatures in the winter.

Quite honestly, all the talk of the Alaskan winters made me excited to get home to Phoenix—because we have the most amazing winters ever.