Lightning Bug Lodge

Lightning Bug Lodge is a log-sided lodge with a stone base and a big gabled front entry that glows at dusk, with a pair of potted shrubs on either side of the arched front doors. It has four bedrooms and about 2,700 square feet inside, with a lot more living space outside.

The pine ceiling runs the length of the house. A stone fireplace rises past the loft railing, with a leather sofa in front of it and a cowhide rug on the dark wood floor. The kitchen has cream cabinets with fleur-de-lis pulls, a white tile backsplash, a stainless French-door refrigerator, a built-in oven and microwave beside the range, and a big white island with stools. A long farmhouse table sits at the end, with dark chairs along the sides and white upholstered ones at the ends. A white sideboard on a pine wall holds the dishes, and double doors off the kitchen open to the covered porch. The laundry room has two washer and dryer sets.

Upstairs, the loft has big triangular windows looking out at the trees, a foosball table, a card table with four chairs and a media wall behind sliding barn doors. At one end is a built-in queen-over-queen bunk with real steps instead of a ladder, curtains for privacy and a bookshelf wall beside it.

Two of the bedrooms have black canopy beds with a twin bed alongside, which is handy for a kid or a friend. Another has a gray upholstered headboard, a chandelier and an arched window beside a French door, and a fourth has a heavy wooden bed and a tall dresser. The bathrooms are big, with double vessel sinks under round hanging mirrors, walk-in showers with two shower heads, and one freestanding tub in front of a white stacked-stone wall.

Outside, a white porch swing bed hangs on the covered upper deck. The swing bed looks straight into the trees. A curved navy sofa and a grill share the covered porch, and the hot tub sits on the lower deck with a stone fireplace beside it. Back among the trees there is a fire pit with Adirondack chairs around it. The lodge is in Broken Bow, in the pines, not far from the lake.