You know those "$49 fare" e-mails that airlines send? I think I am the target market for those. Because every time I get one (particularly from Alaska), I start looking through the list of qualifying sale destination and dreaming of the possibilities for weekend getaways. Of course there never seems to be the cheapest fares available for your preferred dates or destinations, but I was intrigued when I saw tickets to Sitka, Alaska for a reasonable rate in the discount line-up that only typically includes Spokane, Portland and various California cities. Before I knew it, I had a weekend getaway to Sitka booked and I was giddy with excitement for my future outdoor adventure.
One of my bucket list items is kayaking in the wide open sea waters of Alaska, so I got my full-day kayak tour booked. The weather wasn't the best when I was up there (it rained the morning of my kayak tour), but luckily the rain held out for the most part while we were actually on the water. The tour was a small group, so we were able to be very efficient and covered quite a bit of ground (well, technically water) during our voyage. The night of the excursion was a full moon, so the tides were at their highest point. In fact, we were able to explore an estuary that the guide said they usually only have access to once a month.
My heart was so happy the entire trip because we were able to see such great scenery and more wildlife than I dreamed and were able to share a lovely picnic lunch in the middle of nowhere. There's something about incredible scenery and remoteness that makes food taste THAT much better.
Sadly, we did not see a bear, but we saw plenty of paw prints and it was maybe for the better that we didn't have a close encounter with the predator. We did, however see enough bald eagles to make the founding fathers proud, a bald eagle grabbing a salmon from the water and flying off with it (it was like something out of National Geographic!), sea otters, sea lions, deer (which are much smaller than our version) and even a really big Humpback Whale (and I got a pretty good snap of his tail!). There were also plenty of salmon fishing boats out on the water and schools of fish going crazy as we traveled through the water.
My Airbnb host was very active in the local business community, so naturally I had to do some exploring in the very cute (albeit small) downtown corridor. I was very intrigued by a storefront entirely dedicated to salt and learned that a woman and her husband had created the "Alaska Pure Sea Salt" brand after there was heavy demand for their product from chefs. They had very unique flavors (Sitka spruce, blueberry, alder smoked), something I had never seen before.
During an afternoon walk, I explored the town's waterfront, which featured a bay full of fishing boats of all sizes and got to see how active the salmon were in working their way up the nearby fish ladder.
I of course also had an opportunity to explore the onion dome church that sits right downtown, learned about the influence that early Russian settlers had on the town, saw a woodcarver in action at a local museum and watched a gorgeous sunset on the water. It was the perfect little weekend getaway.
