RAD WITH DAD

How to cut down your own christmas tree in idaho

I’m an outdoorsy, woodsy kinda guy. I like my flannel plaid, my coffee black and my mornings crisp. But I gotta share a little secret: I haven’t had a real Christmas tree in my house for over a decade.

BCE (before children enveloped everything), my wife and I lived the simple life. We worked out when we wanted to, we ate out when we wanted to, and we bought an artificial tree. It wasn’t just any tree. No, our tree was the Sequoia of artificial trees. With its perfectly pyramidal limbs structured from rebar and strung with spools of industrial-grade lights … it could suspend a tonnage of unboxed ornaments. The Sequoia also weighed in at just over 50 lbs.

Last year while cursing my yearly unboxing ritual, my wife peaked her head in the garage and gently hinted “maybe it’s time...”

LOON LAKE: A FAMILY'S FIRST BACKPACKING TRIP

A family’s first backpacking trip is an Idaho rite of passage. Perhaps no other kind of trip can test your bushcraft, parenting skills and a child’s patience, all within a 24-hour window. But perhaps no other location can pull it all together like a trip into Idaho’s Loon Lake.

CITY OF ROCKS: IDAHO'S OTHER BIG CITY LIFE

The high-desert landscape takes on a hue of blue as the sun sets behind the Albion Mountains. A distant truck rambles down the lonesome desert road kicking up an orange plume of dust that hangs in the air. We’ve purposely traveled 200-miles into nowhere to get to our final destination. My family and I came to spend a long weekend at the City of Rocks , a martian-like landscape where rocks appear to bubble up out of the desert sage.

Experience a Winter Getaway to the Bogus Basin Yurt

Winter Get Away

Winter camping with the family may seem like a daunting pursuit, requiring mad super-hero parenting skills. But it doesn’t have to be. Stocked with a kitchen, camp stove, wood stove, and an outhouse, a yurt is a fantastic winter escape for the adventurous family wanting to dip a toe into cold weather camping.