Sam with her husband standing in front of Aialik Glacier in Alaska.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Why I went to Alaska<\/strong>
\nAlaska had been a long-standing top-of-the-bucket-list dream wildlife destination of mine, and so my husband and I thought that our honeymoon would be the perfect excuse to visit. We travelled there during the shoulder season of June when there was more accommodation availability, slightly lower prices and less crowds. As it turned out, crowds are not something to ever worry about in Alaska, for this truly is one of the world\u2019s last great wildernesses. <\/p>\n

My highlight of the trip<\/strong>
\nWhile we saw brown bears (and their oh-so-cute cubs) in abundance in the wilds of Denali National Park, our trip to watch grizzlies fishing for salmon was an undoubted highlight on a trip of shining lights. After hopping aboard a tiny float plane in the Kenai Peninsula, we soared and swooped over the grey Cook Inlet and got hair-raisingly close to the jagged crevasses of a glacier as our pilot showed off impressive flying skills, before landing at the mouth of Wolverine Creek. From our little boat we watched as great lumbering brown and black bears came to fish for fat pink salmon with their mighty paws, coming so close we felt the splashes of water as they dived in. <\/p>\n

What else I love about Alaska<\/strong>
\nI had always imagined Alaska to be wild and unspoiled, but its sheer untamed vastness was even greater than I’d thought. Amidst this land of towering snow-capped mountains, gushing icy rivers and gargantuan glaciers lives some of the most free and thriving wildlife on the planet, and a small population of hardy, welcoming locals. I loved staying in cosy B&Bs and meeting Alaskan families, whose local pride is palpable. On one occasion, the owner of the little log cabin where we stayed in Seward took us in his small fishing boat into Resurrection Bay to meet an inquisitive pod of orcas, some shy seals and to fish for salmon. We visited long-abandoned gold mines, rafted down the Upper Kenai River, and heard the crack of thunder as great chunks of ice calved off Aialik Glacier. <\/p>\n