I’ll never forget the amazing trip I took to Alaska, back when I was still in Elementary school. I was 11, turning 12 that summer, and had just finished the fourth grade. My Grandmother decided that it was high time for a family reunion, so she signed us all up for a Disney cruise to Alaska. The cruise would leave from Canada, the day after Canada Day, and would stop in a Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, and finish in Vancouver. It would take a week. It was going to be awesome, The last time there had been a full family get together was over four years ago, at our (old) house, on Easter; I don’t really remember it, but this was a family reunion no one would be able to forget.

The cruise boat was HUGE, a massive white giant with multiple decks and a walkway up to the entrance, almost seeming to be bigger than the surrounding buildings, it was like entering into a castle it was so big. A few days into the cruise, my cousin and I were relaxing together on two of the soft armchairs chairs in one of the lounge areas that were scattered around on the boat. My Grandma watched over us from her seat in a matching chair adjacent to ours, and my brother played, looking out the different windows when our parents came over to us. We split up to see what our parents wanted. My aunt and uncle were decked out in their respective pink, and navy blue jackets. My parents were wearing their coats too, as well as hats and scarves. My mom had brought my coat over, and my dad was handing my brother his, I was confused and wondered why we were putting on our coats, until my Mom explained to me, the captain had announced we were stopping to look at an iceberg, and our parents knew that we wouldn’t want to miss it.

We all went outside onto the wooden, plastic-like deck and stepped into the crisp, cold, Alaskan air, that was very nearly foggy, but not quite there yet, and then I saw it. It was massive! Towering over us and the ship, was the iceberg, white, and shining as if it were silver, almost gleaming in the sunlight. It was like the iceberg had been framed, wedged between the dark browns and greens of its’ two neighboring mountains that appeared to be tall hills from our height on the boat and compared with the height of the iceberg. I wanted to touch it or to skate about on top of it. It rose above the waves, which were so dark they were nearly black, scattered in the water were smaller chunks of ice, that were still about the size of a small boulder. We walked up to the white guardrail that curved ever so slightly inward, so we could get a closer look.

Suddenly my uncle was pointing at something down in the water with his camera, “Look at that,” it was a seal, a small, medium greyish brown colored seal. It looked like it had spots of a darker grey, or maybe even brown and seemed like it might have been a ringed seal. It was swimming in circles around one of the smaller ice-chunks, it was so cute, like watching kittens play with shoelaces! A few moments later another seal showed up, it looked almost exactly the same; the only difference I could see was that this new seal was a little bigger. However, I was also pretty high above them. They chased each other around the small ice-chunk and in what was almost a figure eight for about a minute and then another seal came to join the fun. Maybe they were a family, I wondered. It amazed me that such small creatures were able to deal with the harsh climate of the area. It made me ask myself how they could be warm in what looked like such cold water, but I could be cold in a fleece and a winter jacket, and I wasn’t soaking wet. My uncle let me borrow his phone to take photos while he took pictures on his big, black, fancy camera with the strap. My uncle told me that one of my other family members had already seen a seal and that another one had seen a whale. I wanted to see a whale; I also wanted to see more seals. I wanted to see a bunch of cool new animals. It was freezing cold out on the deck, but I didn’t want to go back inside. The seals were adorable; I loved them; they were so fun and cheerful. Not to mention, that they looked so friendly! I wanted to pet or hug one; I wished the ship had a ladder I could climb down so I could go pet the seals before coming back.

The captain made an announcement once more over the loudspeaker, this time telling us that the ship would be backing up now so we could leave the area. I was disappointed and kind of sad. I watched the seals until I couldn't anymore. I was turning around to walk back inside when I saw “Minnie,” she was wearing a yellow rain-jacket, yellow rain-boots, and a yellow rain-hat with a little yellow bow. It was a lot of yellow. My mom turned to my brother, who had been standing next to her and asked if he wanted a picture with Minnie, he said yes, so my brother and I went to take a picture with the giant yellow-clad Minnie. It got a little awkward though when my mother started a conversation though, I’m pretty sure whoever was in the costume wasn’t allowed to answer back because they didn’t say a word, but their handler was more than willing to take their place in the conversation. After that, we all went back inside. If I hadn’t seen us moving only seconds ago, I would never have believed the ship to be moving, that’s how smooth it was, I couldn’t feel any movement at all. It was such a fantastic experience, and I couldn’t wait to try and see a bunch more cool Animals when we stopped in Alaska.