Challenge, Day 12

Best one yet.

Picture of something you love.

Do kids count? Or husbands? Or Saunas?

I don't know exactly, someTHING can't really be a person right?! I guess I better stick with the rules and do a thing.



So I totally LOVE Sauna's . But only if you say it right. SOW (like the female pig) - NUH. NOT...the way most of America says it. Like it rhymes with Donna. That's so... wrong.

Say it like a Finn. SAUNA!



I love me a good Sauna. And I love me a great Finnish father who built the one at our camp in Susualik. It is GRAND. In every way possible.

We also happen to have one at the place my dad currently lives, in Chickaloon. The Sauna I remember from my childhood. Both Saunas are separate buildings from the cabin and house with a path leading to them. They have dressing rooms and a Sauna room with benches and a woodstove, as well as a barrel of rainwater.


(See that green building in the background? That's the Chickaloon Sauna!)

And uh, the Sauna's I LOVE, have to be "real" Saunas. With wood stoves and river rocks all surrounding them like a nice warm hug. Birch or Cedar benches and walls and a concrete slab sloped to one side to catch the water you pour over yourself to cool you off. And no clothes. At all.

I don't know about how other people take Saunas but here's how we do it at camp...



The dad goes in and starts up the woodstove while the mom gets the towels and kids clothes ready. The mom also heats a pot of boiling water to take with her.

The moms and kids go to the Sauna when its not too hot and steamy, so the little kids don't overheat. The moms wash up the kids with rain water mixed with the boiling water she brought from the house. The kids get out and run back home. The older girls (about 12 on up) go to the Sauna.

The moms throw a bunch more water on the river rocks to heat up the Sauna. They sit there and talk about their husbands and kids. The moms sit and sweat and then wash off. They get dressed in the dressing room and go back to the house. But before they leave, they pour more water on the rocks to get it REALLY steamy and hot for the guys.

Cause they're dirtier than us. Oh, oops. Nevermind. So, the dads and older boys (about 12 on up) go to the Sauna when the moms and older girls are done. They sit there and sweat out the work they did all day and wash off with the remainder of the hot water. Once done, the Sauna doors open and we cool it off.

A few times a year, we go in and re-sand the benches, treat them and spray some disinfecting stuff on them just in case.



And that's that. Sauna. I LOVE them.