From JuJu with Love

Sitka was another amazing day.

We started with a private boat ride through the fjords with the 25 people in our travel group. The scenery was breathtaking. Bright blue skies, sunshine, and temperatures around 60 degrees. Considering Sitka averages more than 100 rainy days each year, we felt incredibly lucky.

The only downside?

The wind.

Let’s just say Sitka gave every one of us a spectacular bad hair day.

As our boat cruised through the fjords for about 45 minutes, salmon leaped out of the water while bald eagles soared overhead. Everywhere we looked there was another postcard-worthy view.

Our next stop was a remote homestead completely off the grid. We gathered around a campfire for hot chocolate and s’mores before taking a peaceful walk through the woods. It felt like stepping into another world.

From there we headed to a bear refuge that cares for orphaned cubs whose mothers have been killed. We saw five brown bears and three black bears, and they were absolutely adorable. They seemed perfectly happy to pose for everyone’s cameras as if they knew exactly why we were there.

Afterward, our bus dropped us off in downtown Sitka, where we wandered the shops along Lincoln Street, the town’s main street.

And then came one of those moments that reminds you just how small the world really is.

I heard someone call my name.

I turned around…and standing there were my neighbors from home.

They happened to be visiting Sitka the very same day on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship.

Thousands of miles from Michigan.
A tiny town in Alaska.
Different cruise lines.
Different excursions.

And somehow we ran into each other on the same street.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Sitka gave me sunshine, soaring eagles, jumping salmon, adorable bears, another legendary bad hair day…and one unforgettable reminder that sometimes the world isn’t nearly as big as it seems.

From Juju with Love 💙

And just when we thought Sitka had given us everything it had to offer, Mother Nature had one more surprise waiting.

As our ship sailed away this afternoon, someone spotted a whale. We all rushed to the railings just in time to watch its tail disappear beneath the water.

It wasn’t a long sighting, but it was one of those magical Alaska moments that makes everyone on deck stop talking for a second.

Now we’re still standing on deck, scanning the horizon with cameras in hand, hoping for one more glimpse. It’s amazing how quickly a ship full of adults turns into excited kids when someone says they’ve spotted a whale.

Come on, Alaska…one more.

Sunshine. Fjords. Eagles. Jumping salmon. Orphaned bears. An unexpected reunion with neighbors from home. And a whale waving goodbye as we left Sitka.

I’d call that a pretty perfect Alaska day.