Saturday, September 8, 2012

Saturday Snapshot

Welcome to Saturday Snapshot which is hosted by Alyce At Home With Books.  Photos can be old or new, and on any given subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.  How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you.  Please don't post random photos you see on the internet.




A few weeks ago in August I visited Denali National Park for the first time.  I'll be sharing several photos from my amazing trip over the next few Saturdays.  This was an incredible experience and I highly recommend visiting it.  Particularly, in mid-August or early September when the weather is cool and the area is virtually mosquito-free.  

Although my visit was in August I saw Christmas trees in Denali Park's gift shops and books stores which is where these photos were taken.  This baffled me until a guide explained that according to the legend many years ago around August 25th people were snowed in at Yellowstone National Park, but instead of being upset they simply called it Christmas in August and celebrated.  As a remembrance of that snow, every August all national parks display Christmas trees in August.  Cool isn't it?  You can read more about this custom here.

26 comments:

  1. Ha! What a great story. I love the little tree in the middle picture.

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  2. What a cool tradition. I guess I haven't been to a national park on Aug. 25. My sister lives in Anchorage - maybe I should try to visit at that time of year.

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  3. This is great! I look forward to your other pictures!

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  4. That is quite unusual, but looks like a fun tradition!

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  5. Interesting story and interesting pictures!

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  6. I bet you had an awesome time Kim; great photos. My son and DIL visited there on their honeymoon in June 4 years ago. Can't wait to see the rest of the photos.

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  7. Any excuse for Christmas decorations is fine by me!

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  8. Great story and photos. Can't wait to see the rest of the photos from the park!

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  9. love the photos, I love the smell of christmas trees. Having grown up in Scotland, it'll my favourite time of the year for me :D **New Follower, thanks for visiting earlier**

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  10. What a great idea, celebrating in August. Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

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  11. I wondered why the Christmas trees, unless they thought it was the North Pole and celebrated all year long. Of course, there are stores like that. There's a big one in Michigan. Here's My Saturday Snapshot

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  12. It sounds a lovely place - but Christmas in August! My Snapshot is at http://goo.gl/g4s6H

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  13. Love the story and the pictures. Of course, I've heard of Christmas in July before...but never in August.

    Thanks for stopping by!

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  14. I love the snowflake cutouts. It makes me realize how quickly Christmas will be arriving! Have a great week.
    Rebecca @ The Key to the Gate

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  15. It's never too early for Christmas in my book. :) Great story and photos!
    My (First) Saturday Snapshot

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  16. In Australia we sometimes do Christmas in July so that we can enjoy a full Christmas roast with all the trimmings (too hot to do this properly in Dec).

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  17. Awesome! I have always wanted to go to Denali! And I love the story. :)

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  18. Sounds like fun! I'd love to visit Alaska!!

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  19. What a great tradition. I guess it can snow anytime there...

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  20. That is such a neat-o, quaint tradition.
    And the dog ornament is a winner!

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  21. That is very cool! Thanks for sharing!

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  22. Sounds like a great custom♫♪ Enjoy your week♥

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  23. That's awesome! Denali is definitely on my bucket list of places to visit!

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  24. Sounds like a fun tradition... and what a cute little Christmas tree in the middle photo.

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