Oh Sweet Summertime, cont.

John and I decided to have another go at salmon fishing.  We drove down to Kenai early last Saturday morning (another 3AM departure). I'll admit... I'm not the best travel buddy.  I was good for two hours, then Zzzzzz. I was out like a light!  Anchorage was a little drizzly, so I didn't get to see that great of a sunrise, but the view was beautiful nonetheless.

 After we parked and settled we ventured down to the tent city to see if anyone was catching anything.  Things looked pretty slow. After we ventured back to the Jeep it was nap time!  Despite the uncomfortable sleeping quarters, I was out like a light. (yet again)  John on the other hand... He might have gotten a 20 minute nap. 

This is the "room" a $20 parking pass will get you

 We finally woke up around 8:30 and sat around until the tide came in.   The one thing I'm not a fan of when it comes to fishing is all the waiting you do.

Begley had a lot of fun while waiting 

Eventually the ride was in and we were off fishing!   I almost lost my boots in the water.  The sand creates this suction that makes moving around in the water just about impossible. Thankfully there were safe spots where I could stand and not fear losing my shoes. :)  We might have been out there an hour before we made our first catch of the day. Over the course of 3 hours, fish were caught, fish got away and we threw a couple of flounder back in.

Here is the lesson I learned about fishing... you have to knock the fish out in just the right spot. Here is how my first experience knocking a fish out went:

Beat it twice on the head

Picked the fish up and took it over to cooler to bleed it

Picked up the knife

The fish starts flopping around again.

I drop the knife and start screaming "Noooo!! Dont' come back to life!!!" 

Then I beat it on the head again

John comes over to investigate

It comes back to life. Again.

John officially kills it

Later, while John was trying to clean our salmon, the tide kept creeping in further and further. So while John is cutting away on the fish, I'm chasing after my boots that were floating away, chased down the wet wipes that the tide wanted to take, and tried to keep the cooler from floating away so we wouldn't lose any fish.  It was a workout!

We attempted round 2 of fishing when the tide started going out.  I lasted about 20 minutes.  This is what we were dealing with....

Waders of water.  :)

After 20 minutes in the water,  I was beyond exhausted, wet, cold, and I reeked of fish.  We ended up staying in Kenai until 6, hoping that salmon would reappear.  They didn't :(  Then we had our adventure home.  Much like the trip to Kenai, I lasted 2 hours and I was out.  I did manage to get some pictures :)

Here is one thing that can be difficult to deal with- all the daylight. This picture was taking around 10:30PM. 

Despite our exhaustion we were super excited to see a double rainbow on the way home :)  

Alaska has been a great adventure that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world :)

Oh Sweet Summertime

Two of the best things about summers in Alaska is lots of sunlight and fresh salmon!  I was not able to go fishing last year, but this year I was totally ready! It's my duty as an Alaska resident to go fishing.  ;)

We left for our trip at three thirty a.m. (which was way too early).  After everyone arrived at the house, we piled our gear in the Jeep and were off! It was a two and a half hour drive to Kenai.  The best part of the drive was getting to watch the sunrise over the mountains.  Watching the sun rise or set during the summer is a rare occurrence for me. I think the last time I watched it set was last year after I had dropped John off at the airport for a trip.  The pictures don't do it justice

After arriving in Kenai and unloading all the gear we headed off to find our fishing spot.  We checked out a couple of spots before deciding on one and gearing up.  I've never worn waders before... but I think it makes Brittany and me look like true Alaskan Chicks :)

We all piled in the river and set out to find our own fishing spots.  While waiting for John to put the hook on my fishing rod I discovered a  blue fish right in front of me!  I bent down to catch it with my hands and before I could reach it the current carried it away.  I was little bummed about it. :(   After a unsuccessful hour in one spot, we headed down to the spot were the Russian River and the Kenai River meet.

There was quite the crowd.  I was a little jealous of the guys who had their setup on one of the islands. They had a nice little fillet table set up and seemed to have a sweet spot considering all the salmon they were catching.  Alas, we ventured into other parts of the rivers.  Brittany and I headed toward the Kenai River (which is wonderful shade of blue), but holy moly was it cold!  Mind you, I was sockless in my waders, and once my feet get cold... they stay cold.  My line got caught on a log, and I had to venture out into the Kenai River to untangle it.  For a few minutes I thought I was going to be swept away.  That's exactly why you use the buddy system while fishing.  I knew Brittany would catch me if I started floating away :)

Near the end of our time fishing I had given up on catching anything.  I opted for a nap on the dock. :)   After an exhausting six hours, we finally packed up our bags and started the trek back.  Although I'm a little heart broken over not catching any fish, there was one perk.  When I got home... I didn't have to clean any smelly fish.  :)

In other news

John and worked on the basement again Friday night.  It was my first time sanding. Poor John. lol.  I started out in sunglasses because I couldn't find the safety glasses I wore last week while mudding.  I couldn't see a thing so John tracked down a pair of safety glasses, but they were tinted yellow.  The color threw me off and I couldn't tell if I was actually doing a good job or not. Then I was getting dust in my eyes so I had to take my contacts out and try to wear glasses under the safety glasses.  We found the missing safety glasses... on Saturday

By the time we were done sanding  it looked like we had a mini snowstorm in the basement and we looked like the abominable snowman!  The basement is coming along and hopefully by September we will have John's man cave the entertainment room finished.

Alaska's weather has been amazing! It's definitely making up for last summer. Anchorage set a new record for the most number of days above 70 degrees in the month of June. We have had 17 days compared to the 14 they had back in the 1936. John and I are definitely trying to enjoy summertime while it last!