Here in Idaho, things are a bit different. There are mountains in just about every direction that you look. People can hunt, fish, camp, and sleep just about anywhere they would like. To add to this list, I found that you can also go and pick berries. Actually, this is something that is done but many. It is like a tradition. Dan's family has done it for years, and I am now part of the family...so huckleberry pickin' I went!
It was just Dan and I that went on this trip to the mountains. We loaded into our little black VW and took off. Along with us, we brought a big plastic tub to carry the berries. You could say that we were feeling a little hopeful. From our apartment, it was about an hour away. The mountain was not too far, but it took awhile to go down the dirt road. It was honestly in the middle of no-where.You can imagine in a VW, it was quite the ride. I think next time we might need a truck. That poor little car was hitting all of the bumps and it was pretty rough. However, we made it!
When we parked the car, I expected to get out and immediately start picking berries. I soon learned that this was not the case. Dan kinda chuckled to himself and informed me that we needed to hike and find the berries; apparently, we were going to have to work a little for them. We hiked just a little and could not find any, so we hiked some more. Soon, we found a whole bush! Man, were we excited!
They were just little purple berries hiding in some shrubs. If you looked closely, you could tell that there were TONS of berries! Dan quickly squatted down and began eating some of the berries. I followed. I picked one off, plopped it in my mouth, and swallowed. I think that Dan forgot to tell me that they were more tart than sweet. Immediately, I decided that these huckleberries were not too delightful. However, I kept eating them. Maybe it was an acquired taste.
We kept picking (and eating). And while we picked, we laughed and enjoyed our time together. Dan told me that it was good to keep talking because it would scare off any bears in the area. You can imagine that brought me a sense of comfort (please, sense the sarcasm in my writing). But, at one point, Dan hushed me and told me to be real still. Somewhat frightened of a bear (or something), I listened. He told me that he was going to move forward because he heard something move in the woods just in front of us. As he crept forward, I heard him burst out laughing! "It is a COW!" He hollered at me. I looked to see, and there it was-a big cow staring Dan in the face. We both thought that was pretty amusing.
As we walked past the cow, Dan began to make mooing sounds like a cow. After doing that a few times, we heard the cow begin running at us! We had to hide from that big thing! Eventually, it found us and it was not happy. I think the cow thought that Dan was a cow, too! I think it wanted to mate...So, needless to say, that cow was mooing furiously when it found out that we were just humans. We got a good laugh out of that.
We only stayed a bit longer. At the end of the day, we left with a bucket full of berries, purple stained hands, and happy tummies.
P.S. I started to like the berries after awhile. In fact, I have found that I kinda LOVE them. Yes, they are delicious. Maybe it was an acquired taste after all.
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