...berry picking with the Hufford girls

Traffic jam...Alaska style. Caribou cross the road.

Fingers stained by berry juice.

The prize.

Mrs. Huffy with a handful of berries.

The Hufford girls pose with the bounty of the boreal forest.

For the past week or so it has been cold enough that we knew it was berry picking time. Yesterday Liz and Emily drove to Cooper Landing to pick some, but they weren't able to find many. While they were doing that I was at work where I happened to be talking with the school secretary and she said there was an over abundance of berries near the Kenai Golf Course. When I got home I mentioned it to Mrs. Huffy and we made plans to check it out this morning.

On the way we stopped by Louie's for breakfast where Emily ate one of the biggest Chef's omelets I have ever seen. After filling up with hot chocolate, toast, eggs, and hash browns, we drove a couple of miles to the golf course. Along the way we were stopped in an Alaska style traffic jam by a herd of caribou that seemed to be having a difficult time deciding where and whether-or-not they wanted to cross the road. Once we were moving again we were at the berry picking grounds in no time.

We walked into the woods and there they were--everywhere. We immediately stooped over and started filling our plastic bags with the tangy berries as quickly as we could. After an hour or so we had plenty and our hands were stained red from berry juice. We took a few photos and jumped back in the truck where we immediately turned on the heater for the ride home. After putting the berries in the freezer we unpacked and settled in for an afternoon of baseball games on the television, happy with memories of...berry picking with the Hufford girls.