livetravelteach.com

I’d never seen anything like this and although I’ve seen more elaborate light displays these lights were perfectly timed to a radio station playing an hour-long loop of Christmas music. We piled cross country skies and snowshoes into the cars and drove a half hour to Chena Lakes near North Pole to explore this recreation area. North Pole, Alaska is a small winter town a half hour from Fairbanks with plenty of winter trails and home to Chena Lakes Recreation area (see above). We enjoyed some line dances and two-stepping the Saturday before New Year’s and heard New Year’s Eve would bring a live band and champagne with a $10 cover charge and lots of friendly dancers.

This year will surely go down in the history books for a multitude of reasons but today I am challenging you to step away from all the turmoil in the world and focus on the beauty of planet Earth. I’ve been busy teaching my 5th & 6th graders for the last few months and fallen gravely behind in updating this blog but rest assured I”ve had plenty of Alaskan adventures and am excited to bring you my best photos of 2018. This year I got to rekindle old friendships on an east coast journey and build new ones here in Alaska, I’ve had countless adventures yet am amused that most of my best photos come from the same few trips. But before I get going on another tangent, I present to you my best photos of 2018, please comment below and let me know which is your favorite!

For outdoor enthusiasts, though, look no further than the Big Island of Hawaii, and it’s Kona Coast. He’s absolutely right about the Big Island being an outdoor enthusiast’s dream. If you like sands of different colors, an easy day trip from Kona will lead you to Mahana Beach, more commonly known as Green Sand Beach. The Kona Coast of the Big Island, however, it truly an outdoor lover’s paradise, with incredible hiking and opportunities to experience some of the wild that makes the islands one of the world’s top destinations.

I got an email from Galen leather over the summer explaining that my love of travel would make me the perfect candidate to review one of their handmade leather goods. Galen is the name of the founder’s favorite precious stone and also, the more commonly known name of famous philosopher, Claudius Galenus, born in Pergamon (present-day Bergama, Turkey – a city famous for leather) Galen offers a large assortment of Apple accessories with leather Macbook sleeves, leather iPhone wallets, and much more. This post was sponsored by Galen Leather who sent me leather portfolio in exchange for the promise of an honest review and social media sharing.