A Real Idaho Christmas Tree

I grew up cutting our Christmas tree down every year at a tree farm.  My husband and I did the same thing once we got married.  We would drive to the Santa Cruz mountains, find the perfect tree, and load it up in the car.
I was dissapointed to find that Idaho doesn't have Christmas tree farms.  They just have the lots around town with precut trees.  I mentioned this to friends over dinner Saturday night.  They told us that a real Idaho Christmas tree can only be found in the Boise National forest.  "It's easy", they assured us.  "You drive out to the ranger station, get a permit, and pick any tree you like."  They encouraged us to go get one the next day and since they didn't have a tree yet either, offered to be our guides and we would make a day of it.  "Once we get to the mountains," they said, "it should take us about 20 minutes to pick and load our trees.  Then we'll have lunch on the way back.  It'll be great!"
The next day we headed out to the snowy mountains, excited for our winter wonderland adventure.  Let me preface the rest of this story by mentioning that our friends are very outdoorsy, adventurous people.  He works for the forest service and they spent their vacation this summer doing a week long bike race through the Sierras.
After getting our permits, we hiked with kids in tow about a mile into the forest.  Then, we took a turn and hiked up and across a mountain in knee deep snow for another half hour.  After the first hour, we realized that trees in the forest are nothing like Christmas trees.  They are, in fact, quite pathetic.  I finally just pointed at any tree, my husband cut it down, and we dragged it back down the mountain and out to the road.
Once in the car, my husband turned to me and said, "Two things.  First, we need to get some chubby friends.  Second, even a hobo would not take this tree.  It's ugly."
After having a lovely lunch and letting the kids play in the snow a while, we headed home.  We dragged our monstrous tree into the house, put it into the tree stand, and burst out laughing.  It really was so ugly.  The bottom third branches were about the length of our couch and pretty much the rest of it was bare.  It was somehow both huge and sparse at the same time.
Almost without saying anything, we all agreed on what to do.
We hauled that crappy forest tree out to the recycling, got in the car, and drove down the road to the nearest precut tree lot.  We paid $26 for a pretty tree that was tied and loaded for us.  We were back home in 15 minutes.
After the gas to drive to the mountains, our permit for the tree we tossed, and lunch, our tree this year actually cost about $100.  It's worth it, though.  It's the perfect Idaho Christmas tree.