Marvelous Morels

I'm totally beside myself with delight ...

The last couple of days while out walking Zippy I've noticed people wandering around the woods, bags in hand. "They must be searching for morels," I thought.

So yesterday, I took a drive out to a backwoods area, and went out to tromps around with the dogs, with the idea of just keeping my eyes out for morels. Not 15 minutes later, I spotted one growing right next to the trail. Pretty soon the pockets in my rain jacket were overflowing with morels, so much so that I had to go back to the car to get a bag, before continuing with the hunt. A few hours later, when the onslaught of dark forced me to retreat to the car, I had a bag filled with the ugly, but oh so savory shrooms ...

It was, by far, the most successful day in my morel career ... which began last year when a friend graciously shared a few of the secrets of morels with me, then pointed me in the right direction and set me loose in Alaska's woods.

Hooked by yesterday's success, Karen and I resumed the hunt again today. While we had a great time, and while we found a good handful of morels, we didn't quite stumble upon the jackpot I did yesterday.

But not to fear, tomorrow I already have a 9:30 a.m. meeting time set with another friend to go back to gather the goods ...

We'll probably return to my "secret stash" (Wow, I almost feel like a Jackson local, because I have a secret morel stash) and then check out a new area ... one that's caught my attention as having loads of potential as morel country.

Ahhh ... what a fabulous game ... a big kids treasure hunt ... doesn't get much better than that ...