The Last Frontier: Anchorage and Prince William Sound

Anchorage, Alaska is where out tour ended. Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska and the most northern city in the United States. We traveled from Denali to Anchorage on a train. The train had two different levels. The top level was where all of the passenger seats were located, and on the bottom was a dining area. The top of the train was encased by glass windows so you could have a 360 degree view. As we got farther away from Denali, we could still view Mount McKinley. The first thing I noticed about Anchorage was the skyscrapers and traffic. I was so happy to see more civilization. When we got to Anchorage we said goodbye to our tour guide and fellow tourists. Then we want out to dinner at a seafood restaurant where I almost died again because I was squirted with crab juice. The next day, we were to travel to Prince William Sound.

Prince William Sound is a sound located off the Gulf of Alaska. A sound "is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, wider than a fjord, or it may identify a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_%28geography%29). Price William Sound is named after Prince William and has seen many disasters. In 1964 a tsunami hit and in 1998 Exxon had an oil spill. Despite these disasters, Prince William Sound is one of the most beautiful places I have visited. For more information about the sound, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_William_Sound and to plan a trip to Prince William Sound visit http://www.princewilliamsound.com/.

Prince William Sound was the last place on our trip to Alaska and the Yukon. Our tour officially ended the previous day; however, we stayed an extra day so we could visit the sound. The main thing we saw in the sound was glaciers. However, we did see a few fishing boats and animals. The last glacier we saw was my favorite because we got so close to it. Standing on the deck of the boat, I could see all of the cuts, jagged edges, and crevices in the blue ice. The captain of the boat turned off the boat's engine so everything would be silent. In the silence, I could hear the ice crack. I even got to see a few chunks of ice fall into the ocean. It was the most spectacular event I have witnessed my whole life. I hope one day to return to Prince William Sound.