No passport? No problem.

You don’t have to leave the U.S. to see some of the world’s most picturesque scenery. Just head north to Alaska, a mountainous wilderness just as foreign to the continental 48 as the jungles of Hawaii.

Alaska is an enticing vacation spot whether you’re an adventure-seeking 20-something, a leisure-traveling senior citizen or somewhere in between.

Norwich Township resident Burt Cantrell, 76, and his wife spent three weeks taking in the state’s wonders.

In August 2009, the couple cruised along the coast and up Alaska’s Inside Passage, flew along the Copper River and around Mt. McKinley, and spent time in Anchorage with a friend.

“We’re in our 70s, so we weren’t going to go up there adventurously and go around on our own,” Burt says. “We really wanted to take a tour.”

The Cantrells left their trip in the hands of Dublin-based travel agency Creative Vacations.

“I guess I wanted to see Alaska because I’m an American,” Burt says. “Once you’ve seen it, there’s no doubt in your mind that you’ve seen one of the most beautiful parts of the globe.”

Having traveled all over the lower 48, the Cantrells turned their attention to Alaska, the nation’s largest state. Alaska is twice the size of Texas, the next-largest state, and is as varied in its scenery as California, the third-largest, Burt says.

“We had about the most extensive tour that is offered,” he says. “We realized that even seeing that much of Alaska, we’d only scratched the surface.”

“You can’t see all of everything. … I think you could live your whole lifetime there and never see it all.”

They started their tour on a cruise up the Inside Passage, which winds about 500 miles north to south along the Alaska Panhandle. Juneau and Ketchikan lie on this coast, as does the Glacier Bay basin, where the mountains of the Fairweather Range drop steeply to meet the blue coastline.

“It’s something you’re never going to see again. My understanding is there are only a few places like that on the planet,” Burt says. “It’s just very unusual to have mountains coming right down into the water like that.”

Cruises along the Inland Passage are popular, with thousands of tourists stopping in cities along the coast daily. Dublin native Anna Lim – who visited Juneau on her honeymoon with her husband, Jonathan, in June – says the mix of tourists and locals made for an interesting atmosphere.

“It’s a pretty weird combination of people,” she says. “Every day, (the tourists) flood Downtown and there are a ton of little gift shops, mostly run by the cruise lines.”

In contrast to the crowd of tourists, the locals have their own culture.

“They all know each other because it’s a tiny little town and they seem hardcore and cool,” Anna says. “They go mountain biking and fishing, and they love their dogs. Every single one of them has a dog.”

Anna was pleased and surprised to find the weather in Juneau was mild and wet, she says. Precipitation from the Gulf of Alaska turns Juneau into an actual rainforest during the summer months.

Temperatures in southern and central Alaska reach highs in the 50s or 60s in May through September, the most popular months for tourists. Central Alaska has a dryer climate than does the panhandle, where rain gear is a must.

“Everything is really green,” Anna says of the Juneau area. “We were saying how different it was from the (Rocky Mountains) because there are huge green plants with leaves and moss. Moss just covers everything that has been sitting for longer than 12 seconds.”

The Lims took several hikes and bike rides near the Mendenhall Glacier, which is the area’s largest glacier at 12 miles long. The state has an estimated 100,000 glaciers, and 5 percent of the state is covered with them.

The couple also spent one morning on a whale-watching trip, where they saw lots of humpback whales.

Anna was the one who chose Alaska as their honeymoon destination, but Jonathan took the lead on planning their trip. They stayed at Pearson’s Pond, an award-winning bed and breakfast, which Jonathan found through a Google search. Because it was their honeymoon, they limited their activities and spent much of their four-day trip relaxing.

They visited Tracy’s Crab Shack in Juneau, which gets its crab off the Time Bandit, one of the boats featured on TLC’s Deadliest Catch. Anna was surprised at how small the stand was, but was impressed with the food.

“It really is a shack. When we were told about it, I was imagining something like Joe’s Crab Shack, but it’s actually just a stand,” she says. “They have a couple tables and some of them are fold-out picnic tables under a little tent, but it was so, so good. We had some crab bisque and some King Crab legs.”

The Cantrells stayed on the go during their trip. Burt’s favorite part of their vacation was a plane tour around the slopes of Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in the U.S. The mountain is also known as Denali, and its summit is 20,320 feet above sea level.

“Getting up close to the mountain like that was amazing,” Burt says. “We had wonderful weather, and particularly, it was very clear around Denali. Some people go up there and it’s cloudy, but we had no such trouble. It was just as clear as a bell.”

They also flew along the Copper River over the rocky banks where fishermen spend days casting their lines for salmon and trout.

“It was fun being up with that bush pilot looking down on the wilderness,” Burt says. “There’s beauty everywhere.”

Both Burt and Anna say they would recommend Alaska to others, especially those who love the outdoors.

“If you like beautiful, majestic mountains and glaciers, then I would totally recommend it,” Anna says. “It’s awesome.”

Only a few places in the continental U.S. rival Alaska’s beauty, Burt says. It’s comparable to the Grand Canyon, the Rocky Mountains or the Florida Keys.

“We’ve seen all of the United States, and there’s no place more beautiful than Alaska in terms of natural wonders,” he says.

Lisa Aurand is a contributing writer for CityScene Magazine.