Travel Tales: Alaska (Guest Post by Kristilyn)

Travel Tales is a celebration of these combined passions, and I’m hosting it this August together with my friends Magan & Estelle of Rather be Reading and Elena of Novel Sounds. 

As part of the Travel Tales event, I have a guest blogger traveling on over to my blog today - Kristilyn from Reading in Winter. She was one of the first people that came to mind immediately when I was thinking about who to invite to guest post. Her reviews are always intelligent and honest; I think she expresses herself brilliantly. I also love her thoughtful discussion posts, and I think she's incredibly creative when it comes to music.

I am super excited for the post she wrote for the blog as it's about a place that I've always wanted to visit - Alaska. Without further ado, please welcome Kristilyn to the blog!

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My Alaska Trip

I was so excited when Alexa asked me to participate in her TRAVEL TALES event on her blog that the second I closed her email I had places running through my head that I wanted to write about. One of the top places -- one of my favourite places -- that came into my head was my beautiful home country, Canada, but since Canada Day was just last month and so many wonderful Canadian events were happening across the blogosphere, I settled on my second favourite place: Alaska.

In 2008, I had the privilege to travel to the beautiful state of Alaska with my husband. While most young couples prefer go to warmer climates like Mexico, or the Dominican Republic for their holidays, we opted for somewhere cold, but a place so breathtakingly gorgeous, seemingly untouched by the efforts of man. 

While we spent most of our time on a cruise ship, watching the changing skies and the journey of the humpback whales, we also managed to get off of the boat to wander around the cities of Juneau and Ketchikan, as well as onto a fishing boat or two. 

The trip to Alaska was beautiful and memorable, so when I come across literature that takes place in Alaska, I snatch it up – anything to relive that one magical week in a perfect part of the world. 

So, for the bookish part of this post, I’m going to share some of my favourite Alaskan reads, as well as some of the ones that have made it onto my reading pile. 

Kristilyn’s Alaskan Reads

The Alaskan Quest series, by Tracie Peterson

The Barringer family is happy in the Alaskan Territory. Confronted by an old flame, Leah realizes her feelings never went away and she is whisked away on an unforgettable journey. 

Into the Wild, by John Krakauer

In April 1992, a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter...

The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

Have you read or been to Alaska? Do you have any favourite Alaskan reads?

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Thank you so much Kristilyn for agreeing to be part of the Travel Tales event with this amazing guest post. It was fun to hear a little about your trip to Alaska, and I'm certainly going to check out those books you've suggested!

For more travel-themed posts and guest posts, be sure to check back on my blog, Rather be Reading & Novel Sounds! And I'm hosting a giveaway, so check that out too.