Gulf Of Alaska

The Water Is Wide

Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I.

Do you know that Alaska is the 49th state to join the union?

Do you remember that 'Land of the Midnight Sun' is its nickname?

Have you wondered how it is to live in an igloo?

Or been curious as to how muktuk, a traditional food by the Eskimo and Inuit people, tastes like? (Hint: muktuk is thick slices of whale blubber and skin.)

Are you bemused as to why I'm starting off this post with four (okay, five) questions?

Oh, good.

It's because I'd like to talk about this cruise. My.First.Ever.

The family and a host of others who have signed up for 'The Ultimate Alaska Experience' are trekking into the untamed beauty of glacier-carved fjords surrounded by the forested wall of some 1,000 islands along the famed Inside Passage.

I know. I'm as excited as you.

The water, beautiful at this time of day, is cool and magically pale. Against the ship, waves break into foam and tumble in, one after the other. They keep coming in their soft way and skipping backward as we sail through a spectacle of idyllic coves and bays. The gulls above hang upon the wind and call to one another in shrill voices.

Then, as snow-covered mountain ranges glide along numerous glacier passes, everyone begins talking at once. High-pitched utterances of children, as well as those of some adults, resound in counterpoint like an obligato as sculpted rock walls, striated cliffs, and eroded hillsides start to come to view.

Are you gasping?

And then the ice sculpture...

Have I mentioned the ice sculpture?

They are deep cobalt blue in color, extending over 30 feet out of the water.

The hum of our voices has risen in crescendo like exclamation points looking at them stretch, like forever. Several have comically inclined their ears, as if to better hear the bubbling fizz from effervescent glaciers melting and cracking in spots.

Anyway. Awesome.

The sounds around me commingle into a canticle of hymn - beautiful, melodic, elongating into infinity.

Truth? It is all I can hear this night - my melody. In a boat that can carry two, my love and I. No, actually, not just two, but our family of four...

... And better still, an entire cruise ship of people who have made the day so full of sparkles I have to sing to the wide waters of the Gulf of Alaska.