Mushrooms in the Mountains

June was a pretty crazy month. I ran a half marathon, we moved out of our house, and put all of our belongings in a storage unit - all in one day. 

Here we can be seen in our storage unit with all our earthly goods. A major thank you to Rick and the rest of Dan's family for helping us move. They were amazing! We crashed at Dans parents for a few days, and then Dan went to Army training and I went to the cabin with my family for the rest of the month.

Going to the Cabin is a Hales family ritual, a hajj, dare I say. One drives 12 hours, partially on the world's worst unpaved forest service roads, to arrive in the middle of nowhere. There is no electricity (well, we run a generator at night), no cell service, no tv... Yes, I am serious. I've been going every year since I was born (minus the years since I've been married) and was so happy this year to return! This cabin year shall hence forth be known as:

THE YEAR OF THE MUSHROOM

While driving along the switchback filled dirt roads near the cabin, it is rare to see another car. So imagine our confusion this year when we almost ran into (its a pretty narrow one car road) at least 20 other cars! Even more confusing, all of the cars were filled with Hispanic people covered in soot! 

"I bet they're picking mushrooms," said my ever wise father. WHAT?!? It turns out that after a big forest fire (which happened last summer), these special mushrooms called Morels grow out of the ashes. These special mushrooms fetch a pretty penny, we were told over $100 a pound! We decided we needed in on this action and went mushrooming on the first day. We inevitably ended up covered in soot and eventually began putting ash on our faces as war paint. Upon the advice of local hermits, we battered and fried a few of these Morels. Verdict: they are disgusting.

In addition to mushrooming, this year there were other activites such as...

FIREFIGHTING: When my Grandpa's "controlled" burns got outta hand.

SHOOTING: Because no redneck vacation is complete without it!

Celebrating: My birthday, Kiersten's birthday, Anna's birthday, and My grandma's birthday. Plus father's day thrown in for good measure.

FISHING: Grandpa taught Kiersty the art of fly fishing. I watched. Kiersten's face in this picture pretty well encapsulates how I feel about catching/eating/touching fish: GROSS.

There was also squirrel hunting (Cedric), Elk carcass finding and subsequent tooth extraction (apparently people make rings out of them?!?), Ukulele playing, and napping. In case you haven't already gathered this, I think my Grandpa is super rad, especially for being 79 years old. 

We also waded in the freezing cold river, worked on our tans while reading, held a daily Horsecreek run club, and even did some manual labor hauling logs.

I love this picture for a lot of reason: Copper is so photogenic, Katheryn's face is hilarious, and the fact that I love my family so much. 

Hopefully next year will be as rad as THE YEAR OF THE MUSHROOMS, and hopefully I will be there.