Culture

Traditions are inherited patterns of belief or behavior. As we talked about some family traditions in class, I was thinking about some of my personal family traditions. I would like to share a few with you guys. I call these the Idaho culture. My dad's side of the family has hunted and fished since they were babies. Since I've been in the family, I have adopted this culture into my life.

Ever since I was young, up and at them, at the crack of dawn in the morning, I jumped in the boat and rode a couple of hours in the truck towards our destination. I would always bring my pillow so I could take a nap before we got on the water. With the old slow country songs swaying me to sleep. Once we got there, I would grab all my snacks, drinks, blankets, coats, and fishing stuff and throw them in the boat. After that, I would put on my life jacket and hop in the driver's seat in the truck backing up the boat into the water following my dad's instructions with his sign language on where to go. Before I got into the boat I would always go to the bathroom because once we are on the water, we didn't come back unto we have our limit. Pushing the boat off the dock as I jump in my dad starts the motor and we zoom off. The mornings usually started off pretty good would get some hits here and there from the fish. Every time I went, we were usually fishing for rainbow trout. Which meant we were trolling four colors down in the deep green river water. Then the action would happen fish on. Do you know what that means to reel in your pole and get the net so you would have a better chance to catch the fish. Sometimes there would be two poles with fish on. The excitement and joy in my dad’s eyes especially if it were a big one. I loved every single second of it because if it was slow, we would just kick our feet up and relax. It was one on one with my dad bonding time. I would love to have my future kids experience this with their own dad. Now days not a lot of kids are close with their dads, and it makes me sad. My dad taught me how to work hard and work for what I want. I learned a lot of life lessons from my dad while we were fishing.

Shhhhh you have to be quiet. Once again very early in the morning on the road again. This time it was in the mountains with winding roads. Always bring a bowl just in case the bowl was for the throw-up. I would get so car sick going hunting. I would at least throw up once. As I got older, I got over it. I would always bring my camo and orange hunter safety hat. Hiking the mountains and hills with the hot burning sun scorching your face was some fun times. If you want to get in shape just go hunting with my dad, he's a mountain goat. I was always behind trying to keep up with his running up the ravine because he spotted some nice bucks. My all-time favorite thing to do with my dad was hunting because he knows what he's doing. I am still learning to this day. I have bad eyesight, so it is hard for me to see the creatures far away. Good thing he has binoculars so we can scope out and then head into the pack. Every single time I have gone out hunting with him you will always see a creature no matter if it's something we can shoot or not.

I would never trade or replace the traditions I have with my family. I hope someday my kids can experience the Idaho culture.