Sometimes you arrive at someone’s home as a friend of a friend and leave feeling as though you’ve been adopted into the family.

That’s exactly how we felt with Murph, Peggy, their son Jerry and their adorable pooch Emma in Palmer, Alaska.

We stayed with them twice, giving us a much-needed place to regroup, reorganize YOLA and deal with one particularly troublesome situation: an uninvited vole had moved into YOLA.

While we spent two days cleaning, reorganizing and encouraging our tiny freeloader to seek alternative accommodations, something much more enjoyable was happening inside the house: Jerry was cooking.

A trained chef, Jerry had recently returned after spending 18 months in Taiwan further developing his culinary skills. We enjoyed his versions of vodka pasta, halibut fish and chips, sizzling steak and spaghetti Bolognese, while Peggy and Murph baked beautiful homemade sourdough.

Murph also became our unofficial Alaska travel advisor and sent us to spectacular Hatcher Pass. Peggy surprised us with a thoughtful gift bag of teas and a tea towel Kristi had admired.

Murph, Peggy and Jerry, thank you for opening your home to us — twice — feeding us unbelievably well, sharing your knowledge of Alaska and giving us a place where we could completely regroup. And Emma, thank you for being the only small furry houseguest we actually wanted around.