Stunning, exciting and other words that describe Alaska

When Jake was in the first grade he had to make a journal entry every Friday telling what he'd learned that week. They generally went along the lines of this:

I learned about fractions. It was fun.

or

I learned about Squanto. It was fun.

Every week I'd ask why he limited himself to this one adjective. I'd pull out a thesaurus and show him all the words that he could use instead. But Jake insisted that fun was the only choice to adequately describe his activities.

Why do I tell you this? (1) I've been sitting at this computer for an hour today trying to describe our vacation, a ten day extravaganza that included sights like this:

ShallowGal actually took this picture.

and this:

I was afraid you were going to ask. I'm pretty sure they're sea lions. Or harbor seals.

and this:

And all I could come up with is this:

We went to Alaska. It was fun.

1) Why do I tell you anything?