Non-Stop Fun with Jeff & Kathy (aka Mom & Pops)

Paul's parents came to town last week.  They lived in Alaska for many years, so it was a fun trip for them to revisit their old stomping grounds.  We had so much fun and definitely packed their itinerary full of fishing fishing fishing.  Fair warning to anyone who plans to come visit us in mid-July...you are more than welcome, but you better be willing to catch a bunch of fish. 

 

We took it easy on Sunday, going to church where they caught up with some old friends and then an evening stroll around the coastal trail.  They were fabulously appreciative of our grilled pizza!

 

 

Monday morning we started off with a little light grocery shopping (ie-throwing everything we could ever imagine wanting to eat into the cart when they weren't looking) to stock up the RV they had rented for the week. 

 

And then we took care of the first order of business on the way to Seward.

 

 



We camped that night in the Primrose campground and were up bright and early for a fishing charter! 

 



 

These early morning clouds were the only ones we saw the whole week.  They were gone by mid-morning and we continued to enjoy the sunniest, warmest, most perfect Alaksan summer ever.  

 

It was Kathy's birthday and she caught the first fish.  We were fishing for halibut, but she caught an Irish Lord.  Crazy name for a crazy fish. 

The fishing was slow in this spot, but never fear.  I came through with the most eclectic catch of the day.  I pulled up a rockfish attached to a sea anemone attached to a rock!  Our deckhand was pretty excited about the anemone/rock combo and she kept it to take it home!  I like the guy I in the background getting a good chuckle at my catch.

Since we were not being successful there we tried a different spot.  I like to call this picture "Windswept Beauty."  Don't you love how some people look so great with naturally wind tousled hair?  Paul thought I looked funny enough that it warranted a picture. 

We started catching right away and everyone caught their limit.  It was great. 

 

Then we moved on to fish for Silver Salmon.  We found a school right near a pod of humpback whales.  We let our lines into the water and immediately the fish were shooting around everywhere.  It was craziness!  Our captain and deckhand were pretty excited and said that they hadn't had silver fishing that good yet this year.  What a riot.  Look at those fat little fishies.

  

After we caught our limits of silvers we watched the whales feed and dive and play around.  That was maybe my favorite part.  One of them got really close to the boat and it was amazing how huge its fluke was.  We took a billion pictures, but none of them were any good, so we'll leave it to your imaginations. 

 

 

 The haul. 

 

Don't worry, those were the fish for everyone on our boat, not just us.  I like how our captain put it best, "If your friends ask, they're all yours.  If Fish & Game asks, they're everyone's." 

Paul took this awesome picture which explains why those fish were so fat.  When our fish were being filleted, look what came out of their bellies!  Isn't that kind of cool?

  

Then, because we didn't have enough fish to get us through the winter quite yet, we drove through the sunlit night to Kenai and camped out, ready to dipnet in the morning. 

Our friend Chris met us down there.  He had called us the night before to let us know that they had limited out in one day!  So he stuck around to help us carry our heavy things, for which I was super grateful because that freed me up to carry things like camp chairs and snacks!  He and his friends had caught 183 fish on Tuesday while we were on our charter.  This of course filled Paul's pants with ants and we were super excited to get in the water to get some reds of our own.  All morning leading up to the high tide we caught exactly 0 fish.  Let me tell you, there are funner things than standing in waves that are breaking over your head, getting sea water up your nose while catching 0 fish.  We were pretty bummed and were planning out when we would have time to come back down to try again.

 

 

This picture does NOT show the violence of the waves during the incoming tide.  Please imagine vividly.  Chris said his favorite part of the day was watching me get rocked by the waves.  Nice.

 

 

We took a short break to guzzle some hot chocolate and then went back in the water with much encouragement from Chris and Jeff & Kathy.  And then the fish started coming.  And they did not stop.  It was SO FUN!!!!  That was definitely the most fun I've ever had dipnetting. Actually, I think it might be the most fun I've ever had. 

 

That's right...two at a time! 

 



 

We were so happy! We caught as many fish as we needed (26, instead of our limit of 35 which is really too much for us) and cooked a couple small ones up for supper.

 

That night we drove back to Primrose and enjoyed a late late game of Catan by the fire.  I was SO TIRED.  I like to think that's why Paul won. 

 



 

The next morning we didn't start out quite so bright or early, but we were stoked for our hike.  Paul graciously re-did Harding Ice Field so that we could all have the experience.  And I'm so glad.  It's a stunning hike!  Loved it!  And yes, you've all seen pictures of this hike before...but note...this time it was sunny!  And besides, this place is beautiful enough to look at twice, right?  You'll have to excuse the 6000 pictures, but I love this place we live. 

 

 

We picked up our frozen fish from the Charter in Seward and then headed to Hope.  Sometimes I forget how much I love that place.  My heart sings when I am in Hope.  Kathy was on a quest for a nice fireweed picture. 

 

 

Friday morning, being our last day, we headed to Whittier to visit one of Kathy's friends from elementary school.  When Kathy lived up here back in the day, she met a man named Perry who she thought her lifelong friend would be perfect for.  So Kathy told Lois to come to Alaska, which she did.  Of course she fell in love with Perry and now they have 2 kids and a kayak rental business.  This is the Whittier harbor & fireweed.

 

We headed back to A-town to drop off our frozen fish and then went to famous Double Musky for Kathy's birthday supper.  I had never been there so I was excited. 

Then our non-stop fun continued as we drove back to town and started processing our dipnetting fish.  Jeff & Kathy helped us get started and then Paul took them to the airport.  We stayed up until the next morning canning and freezing our fishies.  It's a good feeling to have that project done.  I feel like we're getting better and better at this every year.  I'm stoked to have so much canned this year.  We only canned a little last year and so we had to savor it very carefully.  This year we can recklessly enjoy it!  

 

 

We canned until I went to bed around 4:30 (I had to work at 7:00) and Paul stayed up with the last batch until 6:30 (he was at work by 9:00).  When we got home from work we slept!  A lot.  And we spent today cleaning up the explosion that was our house.   

Yet another fabulous Alaskan Adventure for the record books.  And in case you're wondering...the sun continues to shine.  It was 80 degrees today!