We've come a long way from "A meal, hot water and a clean bed please". Well maybe not too far. Not too much really has changed. We just got a little fancier. We now call them Bed And Breakfasts. We got a little cleaner, more organized and a little friendlier and we began advertising our little enterprises. Now we provide at least a continental breakfast just like in the hotels, a bath or shower and perhaps you'll get a room with a theme. It depends on what part of the world it's located. If you stumble into a Bed And Breakfast late at night and you wake up to a room highlighted with wood, fur, moose, fish and bear themes and walls bragging a few trophy racks to boot, you might just be in Alaska.
These days every Bed and Breakfast wants to have its own flavor, theme or specialty. Alaska is no exception. It used to be folks didn't much care about themes and such as long as the place was clean and the food was decent. Now you have a choice and people have noticed and are taking advantage of the fact. And Alaskans though somewhat reluctant at times to follow the crowd preferring instead to pave their own paths have also cashed in on the increase in business. And they do it well. Alaskans are hospitable folks and are amazing hosts and hostesses for any enterprise especially where lodgings and food is concerned. They like few things better than making sure folks who stay under their roof are warm; get a good night's sleep and a good decent hot meal. You might say they learned from the school of hard knocks, learning to cook and bed down in some of the most unusual and seemingly impossible and uncomfortable places.
Now armed with the new technology of beautifully constructed wood and log buildings, clean and up to date working appliances and almost everything else at their disposal they can compete with the best in the business. It's their reward for many years of hard work and long tedious hours in one of the toughest terrains on earth. And for many Alaskans running a Bed and Breakfast is as easy as taking care of their own families and sometimes a few other family members as well. They do it all the time. For them it simply is no different. They get up in the morning, fix breakfast for the household, check on everyone's general health, review their individual schedules, solve minor problems, give out last minute instructions and make sure everyone has everything they need for the day before turning their attention to cleaning up dishes, doing laundry and individual room cleaning if necessary and of course the shopping. You see Alaska still somewhat operates on that small village community way of thinking. It sure has fitted them perfectly for the task of successfully running a B:%$amp;B. And just as was mentioned above, Alaskans know hard times so they enjoy few things better than just taking care of folks and seeing to their every comfort.
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