Want A Memorable Family Vacation? Try Alaska

Every summer, my husband and I confront an age-old question: how do we find a travel adventure that will satisfy three children with three very different personalities? As a former foreign correspondent, I've taken my kids in the past to many exotic destinations — which at times overloaded their senses so much that all they wanted to do was retreat to the hotel pool. But the perfect destination does exist and it's right here in the good ol' USA.

Indeed, my husband, Scott, my three children and I just spent the last eight days in Alaska, a place so physically stunning it even had my jaded teenager spouting out superlatives. Nature is the state's primary draw, of course, and certainly there was no shortage of brag-able activities.

Riding aboard Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas, we were treated on the very first day to a show-stopping iceberg calving at Hubbard Glacier, the largest tidewater glacier in North America. This massive, 6-mile wide, 300-foot-tall slab of ice is not accessible on any shore excursion so you must see it by boat. But the very next day we stopped at Juneau, where we boarded sea kayaks so that we could get up close and personal with another glacier, Mendenhall. We were warned to stay at least two football fields away from the edge, which was hard to do when the blue hues of the glacial ice were beckoning us to come closer.

After the kayaking journey, the days were whirlwinds of bear-spotting trips — yes, we saw several 600-pound brown bears — and whale-watching tours — yes, we saw several humpbacks. The perfect finish was a salmon-fishing excursion in Ketchikan, known as the "Salmon Capitol of the World," a place where the waters harbor five unique types of salmon: the King, the Red, the Silver, the Pink, and the Chum. Afterwards, while shopping for souvenirs, we literally could have spent hours watching the salmon jumping upstream along Creek Street, so mesmerizing was their struggle.

My favorite place of all was Haines, Alaska, more than 300 miles by car from our cruise stop at Skagway but fortunately only 14 miles away by ferry. A small artist's community, Haines was anything but touristy. A friendly guide named Tom, a transplant from California, patiently took us around Chilkat State Park and Chilkoot Lake so that my budding photographer son could snap photos of bald eagles and brown bears. In particular, he was able to take some amazing shots of a bear tearing into a vulnerable salmon sashimi-style, minus the dipping sauce.

What we liked best about Alaska was simply the plethora of things to do. It is by no means the most inexpensive destination on the globe, but it does offer such a wide selection of activities that no one seems to care.

If nothing else, the sheer size of the state will bowl you over. Alaska is 2.3 times bigger then Texas, a fact made clear by the ubiquitous "Isn't Texas Cute?" t-shirts that show a tiny outline of the Lone Star State occupying a small spot within the largest state in the country.

Hard to believe Alaska's only been a state since 1959 and that it was bought from Russia for $7 million. What a bargain!

If you go:

Contact Rainbow Glacier Adventures for tours around Haines, Alaska. Check it out here.

Contact True Alaskan Charters for fishing excursions around Ketchikan, Alaska. Check it out here.

Contact Above and Beyond Alaska for excursions from Juneau, Alaska. Check it out here.