The Tree Search

This year we decided to get a tree permit from the Forest Service and go out and find our own tree. We chose an area we had been to many times and headed out. The weather was decent - not too cold and nice and clear. Unfortunately, there were many others out doing the same thing so driving up the narrow, snowy mountain road and meeting a vehicle was very scary. Well, to me at least. Brock doesn't get scared about that kind of stuff and the kids don't seem to notice either. We drove up as far as we dared then started looking. The first area we tried required lots of up and down hiking. The snow was deep and Hannah was not interested in walking so that really tired us out! There were no good trees, most of them were huge. The next spot we tried was much easier to get to and had a large variety of smaller trees (not necessarily nice trees but decent trees) So, after making sure we looked at EVERY tree in that section (it would stink to cut one down just as you spotted the "perfect" tree) we made our choice.

By the time we were heading back Brock was pulling a big sled with two trees (we got one for his mom and Matt also), I was carrying Hannah and prodding Isaac along. I even resorted to "marshmallow punishment" with Isaac. I had hot chocolate and marshmallow in the truck and I told him every time he whined and complained he would get one less marshmallow! He was able to take as many breaks as he wanted and walk as slow as he wanted but I was not interested in listening to whining! Hey, it worked. He didn't even lose that many marshmallows :-)

It was an experience - not exactly as I envisioned in my mind (think happy, smiley, cheery family casually strolling through a forest full of perfectly shaped and sized trees) but still fun and definitely memorable. Next year we will use the snowmobile and cover more ground. Another added incentive was the price - $5! You can't beat that :-)

After we saw the tree in the house we were pretty disappointed. The bare spots that I thought would hide in the corner were staring at us. We were ready to go out and hunt for another one when Matt and his mom told us what they used to do to their trees - drill holes and insert branches. So, after minor "reconstructive surgery" our tree no longer had large bare spots and although not real full was looking pretty good :-)