First things first

August, 2008

The first step of a thousand (at least!) began in Homer, Alaska where in the early 1970's things were a little different than they are now. In those days spruce trees were healthy and covered the landscape. Spruce bark beetles have since thinned things out a bit on the Kenai but the forests of the Last Frontier are strong. Bark beetles or not.

Raising a family of three boys was a challenge. Like trying to keep six pair of ears and thirty little fingers scrubbed. Not an easy task when you had to pack water to your house in 5 gallon cans filled up at the local super market in town 6 miles away. Since water was precious we turned to saunas to keep our family healthy and clean.

This view is just about what we saw when looking out the door of our first sauna. Not quite the same view as the story of this sauna will tell, but just as full of excitement I can tell you that!

Twenty years and a relocation to the 'lower forty-eight' later, the plan is to again build a log cabin sauna, only this time in the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts. The purpose of this blog will be to document that effort. Since I have no particular audience in mind, I'll write for myself and hopes that the reader may find something of interest here. -Bruce Forster