A Fishie, Fishie Tale

Greeting from AK! All is well here, actually we had a very fishie day last week. We went to Valdez on our days off and took a cruise out into the Sound on the LuLuBelle. It is a 40 passenger boat that has gone out into the Sound on tours everyday in the summer since 1979 with the same captain. He talked the entire 8 hour tour! Very nice, we saw sea otters, sea lions, humpback whales, dall porpoises and glaciers. It was a very fun time. Met some fun folks from Victoria and had a great day.

The next day we went Pink Salmon fishing in the back bay of Prince William Sound. They are a smaller fish than the kings, but there are lots of them in the Sound right now as they are running to spawn. The Pinks were jumping out of the water like crazy and we couldn't figure out why they were doing that, as they were feeding below the surface. I joked to Barry that I thought they were doing it because they were itchy from the sea lice they had on them from being in the ocean. Lo and behold we talked with someone that knew and that is exactly why they are jumping, to get rid of the lice, also to smack their sides on the surface of the water to make their eggs and sperm easier for spawning. (Would that be like going on a bumpy road when you are over due pregnant???) Anyway, we fished the Sound on Thurs. morning then came back to Glennallen, about 117 miles. We got set back up in our spot in the RV park and a friend of ours who is a fishing guide on the Gulkana River came by to tell us that the Kings were really hot that day. Sooo, about 8:30 that night we went King fishing. Oh my God, what a time that was. We both landed King Salmon on our flyrods! Barry caught about a 30 lb. king on his 8 wt. It was so much fun. Barry caught 3 and I caught 2. I was totally exhausted after two! I had to sit down, rest and have a cigar, as did Barry! (See photo above..I haven't figured out how to put the photos where I want them yet!) We were back in the trailer by 1AM and had landed 5 kings. We let them go, as if you keep one your limit is one. Much more fun catching them! This time of year here is like zuccini season is WY, everyone has more salmon than they want so they are always trying to give you some! Barry isn't a huge fan of LOTS of salmon, and I don't reallly want to eat it 3 or 4 times a week, so all is well! We didn't catch them on flies, we used roe, but all the same it was extremely fun! By the time I had my second one landed, I was totally exhausted from the fight (about 25 minutes) and the adrenalin rush. It was truly an experience of a life time. Neither of us had ever caught a fish near that big. I used the guide's 10 wt as the reel on my 8 wt. had a malfunction, but all the same it was great. I landed my first one on a spinning outfit and the second one on the fly rod. Anyway, it was super! OK, now I have to go take a nap just from talking about it!

We had some horrible news this week. A young man that was Rod's best friend until they were about 10 years old, took his life last week. So, so tragic. They live in Georgia. I am so sad, as he was like one of my kids those years when the boys played together every day. You just never know what tomorrow is going to bring.

OK, I'm outta here, I have to vacuum up the dog hair...imagine that. Later

July in Glennallen is something to behold. We went to the 4th of July parade here in town and it was fun. Glennallen only has about 450 people and the only real street in town is the Glen highway that does directly through from Tok Junction to Anchorage, so for the parade they just closed the highway! Probably some unhappy travelers. The leading vehicle was a state trooper throwing candy. Pretty much every one in the parade threw candy. State troopers are the only law enforcement we have here, so they started and ended the parade. The last trooper was the one that was stopping the traffic on the west end. Anyway, of all the entries in the parade I liked the guy with the "honey wagon" the best. Most everyone here has their sewer tanks pumped all year long because they can't have an actual cesspool that drains due to permafrost, anyway the honey wagon guy threw individually wrapped toilet paper! And behind his tank truck he was pulling an outhouse on a trailer with no door and there was a guy sitting in there....(I said sitting in there.) After the parade we went to the free salmon bake in the park. They grilled salmon and had baked spuds, corn on the cob and beans and garlic bread. It was pretty fun.

Salmon season is in full swing here now. The first run of kings is about over then there will be another run after that. There as sockeyes going up now too. The fishwheels (see the photo at the top right of this post) are going strong on the Copper River. Fishwheels originated in China and have been around AK since the early 1900s. If you are a resident you can get a fishwheel permit, as this area has subsistance fishing as does most of AK, primarily set up for the natives, but any resident can get a permit for a fishwheel. They scoop up the salmon in the baskets then have an angled shoot that drops the fish into a holding tank. The wheels are all home made, as there is no manufacturer of them. The amount of fish you can take with your permit is determined by annual income and need. They range from 49 fish to 500. How sick of salmon would you get if you got 500?? Anyway, I found the fishwheels very interesting. Residents can also dip-net on the Copper River as well.

We just found out yesterday that our lady boss has cancer. She had a stroke last year and suffers from Lupus and now a biopsy showed she has cancer of the intestine and stomach. No treatment plan yet, but that will all have to be done in Anchorage, so it appears that Barry and I will be running the park a lot of the time the rest of the summer.

I don't know if I told many of you about our friend John Richardson in Northern California whose 19 mo. old grandson was shook and banged up againest a wall by his baby sitter. Anyway, that happened in May and the little guy is doing better, they operated and took out a piece of his skull to accomodate the swollen brain. He is able to walk a little bit now with braces on his right leg as his right side doesn't work very good yet. They haven't given them a prognosis yet until the swelling goes down. He is still in the hospital in Sacramento but gets to go home the 13th of July. He will continue with therapy and hopefully they will be able to put the piece of his skull back when the swelling is down. I'm not sure how that all works, if they save the piece of his skull or if they put something else in. Anyway there is a webside for him, http://www.babykai.com/ that shows pictures of him. Unbelieveable. If you go there, you put Kai in as the password and hit enter. His father committed suicide about 6 months ago, so his poor Mom has really had a hard hard time. Hopefully all will work out for the little guy.

Well, so aren't I just a ray of sunshine in your life? I really got on a kick there with horrible news. Guess we all should just count our lucky stars that our lives are going as well as they are.

Barry and the dogs are fine. He is getting to be pretty darn good at week eating, although this week he has been running a chain saw too! Yipes. Bet you all are scared now! Yesterday he and the boss man had to dig up the sewer pipe as someone had put some rocks in it about the side of a baseball and that pretty much screwed it up. Anyway they got it fixed and smelled no worse for their work! (Although I did have the urge to pour bleach over him when he was in the shower! :)

It has been raining here quite a bit lately, and the temperatures have been lovely, especially compared to some of them that I hear about in the lower 48, (the locals here call that "the outside". We actually ran the fire place today awhile after being outside in the damp weather. it is about 55 degrees now and don't think it got over 65 today. Great sleeping weather. The days are getting shorter here. It now gets almost a little dark about 1 in the morning but it doen't last long.

The over 1000 flowers that I planted in early June are going great guns! All this day light sure makes them grow. My tomatos don't fair as well, due to the cool nights. I had to build them a green house. I only have 2 plants, so I took the wire dog cage, turned it on one end and covered it with plastic. Works like a charm, although it looks a little weird. Oh well, in Alaska anything goes. Our friend up here told us this is the land of half-ass stuff and he is right. There are lots of houses (or shacks) that are not quite done or not even close to done that people live in. I think the summers are so short they just do what they can and call it good.

We went to the half-way to Christmas party June 23rd at the Gakona Lodge. (See the picture on the left at the top of this post) It was pretty fun. Because so many people leave during the winter and it is so damn cold for the ones that stay here all year, they just have their Christmas parties in the summer, complete with Christmas decorations! They hired a band and he played outside the bar at the lodge. I took the attached photo at about midnight and you can see, it wasn't anywhere close to dark.

OK, well, I'm done til next time. Love to all.

Still surviving the skeeters

Yep, we are still surviving the skeeters, but barely. Some days they almost get the best of us, but so far we have prevailed!
I just returned yesterday from Minneapolis. I went for 2 days for my grandaughter Shayne's graduation party. She graduated from highschool and will start at U of Minn/ Mankato in Aug. She is sooo excited and so anxious to get away from home. She has a new fella and his name is Shane.....the Shayne and Shane show! How funny. Barry had to run the park for 2 days by himself as I went to Anchorage with our bosses, the lady had to go to the Dr. So Barry was King of the Campground! He did great.
We have had lots of international travelers in the park lately. Always have some but seems like more than usual. Last night we had a woman and 3 men from Holland that were very friendly and fun. We had helped them get a site in Valdez, so they brought us a bottle of wine for our kindness. We visited and wined with them for a while. One of the men is 65 and has smoked 3 packs a day since he was 13! Looks and acts in very good health. Maybe Swiss cigs aren't as bad for you as ours! They all spoke good English so we enjoyed them very much. Then there were 2 young Swiss men and their father in one of our tent sites. One of them came to our site and visited for a couple of hours. Learned a lot about his country and enjoyed him very much as well. It is so nice that many of the Europeans speak English.
Still haven't caught any salmon yet, but we are still working on it. We have been working more than we really want to, but with the boss lady so sick, we feel we have to help when we can. We plan to go out with a guide and get a king, not on a fly rod of course, but at least we can get one. The sockeyes are running now and we have had some of those on, but have failed to land them. We will though!
Our weather has been very nice lately. Yesterday was cloudy and cool, (50s) but most days it is in the 70s and in high 40s at night. Great sleeping weather.
There is a parade in Glennallen tomorrow. Bet that will be fun. Few people here, but they seem to have a pretty good time! Well, 'til next time...