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Early Morning River
Lower Kenai River at 8 AM on my fishing tripThings are continuing to go great. I am getting to know everyone here a lot better as well as feeling more comfortable in my surroundings. I am not even phased anymore about going to bed in the cold and waking up in the cold. It is just now a part of my life. I have had some different opportunities the past two weeks to go out and explore. But this weekend was great!
On Friday (6/6/08) I had the opportunity to go fishing on the Lower Kenai River for King Salmon. I went out with 2 of our guides and a couple other staff members. This has been my second time ever fishing (I went once before with Danielle at her cabin). This adventure started with me waking up at 3:30 in the morning to get ready and eat breakfast so we could be on the road at 4:30. It was surprisingly not that difficult to get up that early because I was so excited to go out and it was like dusk when I woke up which helped me to think it wasn't so early in the morning. We had to drive about 45 minutes into Soldotna to go
My Prize
The only fish I caught, a little hooligan which will be used for bait to the boat launch where we were to fish. The technique used to fish for King Salmon is using spin rods and hanging them off the boat and then drifting down the river. Not the most exciting and active time, because we are just sitting in the boat waiting for a bite. But it was such an amazing place to be. I was using salmon eggs as bait and other people were using plugs with sardines on it as bait. About mid-morning, around 10 AM my line got a bite, but I wasn't quick enough to hook the fish. When I brought my line up all of my eggs were gone. At least I helped feed a fish. Later on in the day, I did catch a fish on accident. It was a hooligan which I kept so the fish guys could use it as bait. The day wasn't a total loss. One of the guys in the boat ended up hooking and catching a king salmon. It was very exciting for me because that was the first time I ever witnessed that sort of battle. The fish was about 20-25 lbs. and he was nice enough to let the
The Real Prize
Jay with his King Salmon (about 25 lbs) chef cook it up for us to eat that night at dinner. The day wasn't over when he caught his fish, the rest of us in the boat were still trying to catch ours. Then when we were doing our last run one of the other guys got a bite and he got the fish right up to the boat, but the fish won and was able to swim free. This was such a great day, and even though I didn't catch anything I really enjoyed being in the boat and it was something I would enjoy doing again.
Saturday (6/7/08) I went to Anchorage with one other employee to go to the Alaska Oceans Festival. We left Cooper Landing around 9 and made it to Anchorage around 11 to run some errands and then we went to the festival. There were different booths set up which helped to promote conservation of the wildlife and oceans along with other booths of people selling goods. I was able to try some new food at this festival and had reindeer sausage and a buffalo burger. Both of which were very tasty. While there we got to hear Hobo Jim (an Alaskan
Eagle
That dark thing in the tree is actually a bald eagle. icon folk singer) and hear Alexandra Cousteau (Jaques' granddaughter) speak. To be honest, Hobo Jim was much better of the two. Alexandra did not have the best speaking pressence but what she had to say was still very good. On the ride back we decided to make stops along the road to take pictures. The drive from Anchorage to Cooper Landing is one of the most beautiful drives imaginable. Then we decided to be spontaneous and take a turn to head towards Whittier to go for dinner. This turned out to be quite the adventure. We stopped along the way to take photos, and then we had about a 30 minute wait to go through the tunnel which goes through a glacier to get to Whittier. This is a one lane road with railroad tracks going through it. There is a process through which you can travel and each side takes turns with a 15 minute window to travel through. We did not know this and that is why we ended up waiting for a while to travel through. We got a map and realized there is not a whole lot to the town, but it was wonderful to see.
Hobo Jim
Hobo Jim performing at the Alaska Oceans Festival in Anchorage There was one road that had a few shops and restaurants on it and lots and lots of boats. We were able to eat dinner and walk around to take some pictures before we lined up to go back through the tunnel. Once we were done we made it back to Cooper Landing around 10 PM. This was a full day journey which took us on many different paths we did not expect.
There were some other interesting things that happened in the past two weeks. I have seen 4 moose, 3 of which were on the drive to and from the movie theater in Kenai where I went to see Sex and the City. The 4th moose was actually in our camp, which was exciting. I was upset because I was unable to get a picture of them, but it will happen one day. I still have plenty of time here to see many more and get many photos.
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Diane Kanter
non-member comment
You are too funny!!! If all you catch are hooligans, you'll have no need to watch the pounds! The views are great! How long is the Whittier Tunnel? Keep blogging!