Monday, November 27, 2006

Christmas Tree Hunt

It's a family tradition to go into the mountains to "hunt" for our Christmas trees. We buy a permit for $5 at the Ranger Station, and caravan up with our snow gear. We've had all kinds of weather from blizzards to rain, but this time around it was just great. The snow was a really nice, dry kind, that packs together well. If I were Eskimo (Inuit?) I'd probably have a word for it.

In any case, we had a ton of chili & hot dogs, as well as other snacks, and the kids got to play in the snow the whole time. Brian, my nephew, made the comment that it was better to search for trees uphill, because then you could drag it DOWN to the cars. Good plan!


Our truck worked out great. Once the snow got harder to drive in, we had to leave a minivan behind at a junction in the road. They had chains, but they were plowing the snow in front of the car because it sat so low. Everyone else was in a higher car, or 4-wheel drive. This time around, even 4-wheel drive didn't mean you weren't going to slip in the snow. I think almost everyone had points when they were spinning wheels & we had to dig down. We had someone with a tow line, and at least 2 cars were tugged back up to the road, tho there was no damage to the cars. I don't like the slippery slidy part. Our truck has rear-wheel drive, not 4-wheel, but we did great once the chains were on.


I think most of us gals cringe at the drive up & down, but the guys see it as a challenge. Once we're all parked & hanging out though, it really is worth the drive. Connor had an absolute blast. He came away with a big scrape on the side of his face. No one in our family saw it happen and he certainly didn't cry or anything to let us know. But it's a pretty good scrape and must have hurt! I think he was too busy having fun to pay attention to it though.


Fun fun fun!


1 comment:

shoo said...

Dang I am jealous. Our annual jaunt to the Christmas tree lot is no where near that much fun.