Ma Ma Jacquie's Blah Blah Blog

The wierderst feeling I experienced while in Alaska was when we drove around the bend at mile post 120 on the Glenn Highway, and there before my eyes was the very cabin my Uncle Larry had built about 50 years ago. The way I understand the story is that he and my aunt had homesteaded 80-some acres and then my mom and dad homesteaded the adjacent parcel in 1960. The dream was to develope a ski recreation area. They had poles for the rope lift and had built this cabin (we called it The Chalet) to use while they developed. Problems occurred (a fire that could have killed my little brother) and other stuff that stopped them from ever completing the project. The property was sold once, then again to whoever built the new road and now it is just sitting there as a piece of Gill history. My mom and dad used to take us up there alot. I guess they were working, but we didn't notice, because we were too busy adventuring.

We also met a guy in Talkeetna who is an engineer with the oil company and he said he had been by The Chalet many times and actually went inside to get ideas for building his new place. He said the six sided shape and the tall pointed roof is perfect for the weather conditions there.

I really didn't think it would still be there. We were able to go inside and the wave of memories flooded in. It's like a few pieces of my life's puzzle that were all covered with dust were cleaned off and put back in place. I used to think my parents were pretty wacko to try to raise 6 kids up in that harsh country, but being there in all that beauty sort of made me understand. (Sort of)