Be it ever so humble...

"He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home."  ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I could regale you with tales of my week, about how I started working for real at the restaurant at the lodge, about how yesterday was one of the most humbling experiences on a job I've ever had due to the perfect storm of things that should not happen to a professional with 18 years experience in the service industry. Or I could tell you about how I managed to lock myself out of my place the second night I was there, wearing nothing but sweats and a zip-up hoodie, with no way to contact the landlord due to everything I own being inside; and oh yeah, it was raining. I could tell you about the fox I saw two days ago carrying his freshly taken prey across the road to enjoy for breakfast or even the entire convoluted tale about how my friends Natasha and Tyler essentially had their dog stolen by some unstable Alaskan lady who drove it over 80 miles away after she "rescued" it from wandering the streets (in front of Natasha & Tyler's house). I could go on at length about any number of these things, but instead I'm just going to give you a photo tour of my "home" away from home. And then maybe point out one thing involving trains.

I've already provided info on what a yurt is so I'm not gonna go through that again, but here's the view walking up the driveway. The building to the left is the kitchenette and bathrooms. Another renter on the property, who lives in a regular old tent pitched on the ground about 70 yards away, shares the kitchen with me, and everyone shares the washer/dryer. In total there are seven of us on this property, there is Marne, my landlord, who shares space with her boyfriend Geoff and Bailey, who is daughter to one or both of them, I'm not really sure. Also, Matt and Heather, who rent the loft apartment attached to Marne's place. Dennis is the guy in the tent, and I have the yurt. There are also two dogs (Jenna and Frank) and two cats (Pretty Kitty and Arlo).

Continuing up the drive, with some of the yard in view. Yurts are not usually built off the ground like this, and I am impressed with the effort the construction of this one must have taken. It's a twenty footer, a little over three feet off the ground, well insulated, and has a skylight and three windows.

This is the inside of the kitchenette. It's got a brand spankin' new stove, double well sink, microwave, toaster oven, mini-fridge, and a small table. It is well constructed and insulated, but the heater is never on in there so it is chilly, which I'm not particularly fond of.

Especially when I use my bathroom. Maybe it's just me, but I HATE cold bathrooms. I don't like sitting down on a cold toilet, I don't like brushing my teeth while shivering, and I especially don't like freezing my ass off after just getting out of one of my patented über-hot showers. But I'm not gonna complain too much because most of the people who live around here don't have their own private bathrooms, or even showers or running water in their summer rentals; they use outhouses and pay to take showers at a campground.

Another view of the kitchen where you can make out some of the other appliances.

One of the creative landscaping choices in our yard.

A view of the front.

The bedroom and lounge area.

A Talkeetna style walk-in closet.

Wardrobe / dressing area.

The den.

The study. 

As to the lighting, well, we're still working out the kinks in our camera/photographer relationship.

The skylight still has its winter cover on inside. I asked Marne to keep it like this because the sun never fucking sets here and I need to get some sleep. Seriously, it's still light out at 2 am, and I get up no later than 5, so I try to make it as dark as possible.

The heater, possibly my favorite amenity. It's summer here and it still gets into the 40s at night. 

I've got this great rug that really ties the room together.

And if you don't like it, there's the door.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with what I've got here. Being a city boy, of course I'd like things to be a little nicer/less rustic, and I wouldn't mind at all if it was cheaper, but I've seen what else is out there and this place is definitely one of the nicest going, and probably the best non-cabin option in town.

That being said, I sure wish it wasn't so close to the train tracks. It turns out that in addition to the regular passenger lines that whisk vacationers and mountain climbers back and forth from Anchorage to Fairbanks and back all day, there is also a freight line that uses the same tracks. I guess they want to send those trains at off hours when the passenger line isn't running because the one that made me realize that the difference between a yurt and an actual walled structure can be summed up in the words "noise dampening" blew through town at about 4 o'clock this morning. And it has to blast its whistle every time because it crosses the main road two blocks away. Vincent LaGuardia Gambini ain't got shit on me.