Log Cabin in the Wilderness

      Well, I know this is a little late, but I wanted to write a few more lines.  We stopped near Tok, AK and stayed at a beautiful lodge.  Jon and Jill were the perfect hosts at their amazing off the grid ten acre homesite.  Jon and Jill use a combination of wind, solar, and wood to generate all of their energy needs.  There are no powerlines or gas meters in their neighborhood. We called to see if there were any openings and Jill politely said "Yes, but you have missed dinner."  Dinner is served complimentary as well as breakfast...but you better be on time!
     When we arrived Jon showed us to our cabin and gave us the tour of our area!  He also gave us the tourist bear briefing, it sounded like this, "There is bear spray in the cabin, and don't walk ANY where without it, but please don't spray it for fun because the next campers will not be happy if they need it!"  I guess you have to love the whole truth...bears are a regular occurance near their cabins, but they have something better than bear spray...DENALI!  He's a Anotolian Shepard...this means his ancestors job in the Turkish highlands was to guard the sheep and keep wolves and bears away.
      Denali is really good at spotting moose and bear; he will even chase them down to protect his people (I guess we are like sheep).  Denali also likes "me," but not Doug, I fed him treats and scratched his ears, Denali is my friend for life.   Denali is now my favorite big dog!  I would love to have one I am thinking it would be similar to having a small pony.
     Jon was a school administrator who taught his first two years in the bush.  At the present time he consults for the Apple company.  Jon is always teaching!
      We all went for a two mile hike in the woods.  Jon led the way and Jill brought up the rear, both appropriatley accessorized with firearms.  We hiked for about an hour and it was getting late.  Jon pointed out the historical areas as Jill chatted about general family infomation.  We saw a moose as we were coming into the driveway and Jon said "Denali was hot on the moose's trail." The moose we had seen earlier in the evening was clearly gone. We said our goodbyes so Doug and I went off to the sauna which was artfully hand constructed by Jon.  Doug and I had the sauna cooking at 120 plus degrees, Doug had to go out and get some air...I followed. 

Our Cabin

Babbling Brook

Sauna

Log Cabin built by Jon and Jill

      We left the sauna and headed for the cabin to have a glass of red wine.  After a glass of red wine we both fell asleep to the sounds of the brook ten feet from our cabin door.  A gentle brook trailing over river rock is a pleasant way to fall asleep! 
     In the morning we were up at 6AM and sauntered up to the main lodge by 7AM.  Breakfast is a community gathering and so the other lodgees were waking up and coming to breakfast, too.  Jill is in charge on dinners and Jon is in charge of breakfast...nice division of labor.  Our breakfast consisted of caribo sausage, scrambled eggs, fresh picked cranberries in our pancakes, orange juice, toast, yogurt, coffee, and syrup.  Jon and Jill are excellant cooks!  Their laid back personalities exude hospitality.   I was debating weather to stay another day, but the threat of landslides on the other side of the mountain.  Oh, interesting sidenote...we just missed two large landslides on the way to Alaska one near Watson Lake and one near Destruction Bay...great timing.  Doug and I were concerned about catching one on the way to Haines for our ferry trip so we deferred staying until another time. 
A quick little promo here...go to the Log Cabin in the Wilderness, its gorgeous, but the owners are the real attraction!