Sometimes good things take time—twenty years or more. Just ask Richard and Betsy Galaska. What started as a search for the perfect place to enjoy their favorite pastime of sailing became, over time, a major lifestyle change. They moved from an urban landscape to lake-front, log home living, and, in the process, acquired a deeper appreciation of home and family.

Like many struggling husbands and wives in the 1970s, the Galaskas had more dreams than money. “We were a young couple with a home in the city and on a budget—an absolutely strict budget,” says Richard.

But even then, the Galaskas enjoyed the water and wanted a place to get away to sail. “We didn’t want to be dragging our sailboat from here to there, setting it up,” Richard says. “So, we went out to see this frozen tundra. Underneath all the snow was a lake we were promised. We bought this land…sight unseen.”

Next, the Galaskas had to find a home. “We just bought a piece of land, and we spent our max—the whole $6,000,” Richard says. They first looked at a modular home, but found the price too high. They then looked at a log home and bought a package from Real Log Homes of Hartland, VT, for $4,500. “And that was just a perfect price.”

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