Animals of Alaska
Since embarking on my storyteller's journey I've learned what most inspires me is an interesting setting, and the creatures that reside there. Alaska was extraordinary.
By the end of our 2017 trip to Alaska, and Denali National Park in particular, I knew that one day we'd create a children's book inspired by the park and its beautiful animals. That book will soon be published!
During our time in Alaska we took a bus tour deep into the Denali National Park. Our guide told us that she'd not led a more successful tour in many years; we saw so many animals, some of them are rarely seen.
The
Willow Ptarmigan is the state bird of Alaska. We saw several near our cabin on Tonglen Lake, outside the park. These birds, like the
Snowshoe Hare above, turn white in winter.
This
Caribou created a lovely photograph against the snowy hillside. Michael (my artist/husband) has thoroughly enjoyed using oil paints to compose our illustrations.
By far the most thrilling thing we saw were these
Dall Sheep. It's not easy to capture a photo of the elusive creatures, but as I mentioned above, we were extremely lucky on our tour through Denali National Park. This species of sheep is a big reason that the park was established in 1917. The naturalist Charles Sheldon, was so taken with them that he lobbied Congress to establish Mt. McKinley National Park.
(Now Denali.)
That bit of history, as well as the amazing animals of Alaska, is what inspired the story for our next
Lindstrom Wintertime Tale set in 1927.
(All photographs copyrighted by Victoria Lindstrom or Michael Lindstrom.)
Check in here on Writ of Whimsy for more details soon!
