Catching Fish

Here is the latest fishing update:

On our Homer charter excursion, we caught three King Salmon plus we ran over a school of Sea Bass and caught three. Our Ford truck repair cost us $1,200. It was a broken fuel pump. Expensive fish!

In Valdez, we forfeited going for Halibut since the boat ride was 70 miles out to sea or a 3-hour ride, fish for 3 hours then back again for a 3-hour return ride. That seemed to be too long of a day. But we didn’t go there to fish. Instead we took an 8-hour leisurely tour on a yacht. We saw humpback whales, beluga whales, sea lions, the Columbia glacier, where the Valdez oil spill happened, the pipeline terminal, and caves. It was quite an experience. Our picture was taken of us for our Christmas card near the Columbia Glacier. Very cool (literally, since it was 38º). We’ve seen the Titanic movie. It seemed rather strange dodging ice bergs. They were all over. But we kept putting closer with the boat to the glacier. And then before we knew it, we were next to the glacier. It was like sitting in a bowl of ice cubes. There were broken icebergs all over. We now know where the term “blue ice” comes from since this was the glacier’s color.

Today we are in Sterling, Alaska. This morning we drove to “The Sanctuary” (as the locals call it) were the Kenai and Russian Rivers meet. The Sockeye salmon were running. There were probably 800 people fishing up and down the river banks. The only time the banks cleared up was when the grizzly showed up. It was easy fishing for him. Just look for the fish on the stringers. Linda has never seen anything like it before in her life. Here we landed two Sockeye salmon. We caught fourteen but they seemed to have wiggled off the regulation hooks we have to use in this fishing zone. Linda stood fishing, casting and retrieving for eight hours. She feared even to go to the bathroom because her spot on the river would be taken by another fisherman, besides there might be bears in the woods. Lifting a glass of water is difficult after fighting salmon all day.

Chapel of the Sea

We went to church today. It was more than church, it was a Chapel of the Sea.

The worship service sponsored by the First Baptist Church of Valdez was held on the
Lu-Lu Belle. As the diesel motors turned over, there was a slight vibration of the boat as it pulled out of its slip. There were twenty-five people on board.

As we entered the bay of Valdez we were lead in song “I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God.” Followed by, “This is the day that the Lord has made.” Our pastor was a young man, a “Cajun boy” from Louisiana.

The bay is surrounded by snow capped mountains. As we opened the Bible to Isaiah, we could see out the window to a group of otters playing.

The evening before church we met our neighbors from West Palm Beach, Florida. There were a mother, daughter, cousin and their 91-year old grandfather. Linda and the girls walked to church and Doug had the opportunity to exchange war stories as Doug drove the grandfather to church in the truck. The grandfather was in the Navy and was on the ship that escorted Roosevelt to meet Stalin and Churchill in the Middle East during WWII. Both the young girls were doing missionary work abroad.

What a joy it is to be in God’s family.

OTE

We have traveled onto Valdez from Palmer. Traveling in Alaska takes a long time. The distance we’ve traveled is like going from southern Arkansas to northern Louisiana. Every place is so far away and takes hours to drive there. So you have a lot of time to think.

As we’re traveling, Linda is thinking of all the OTE places we’ve been. OTE means “Out to Eat” and when Doug plans menus for trips he uses this to denote when we get to go to a restaurant for dinner.

In the different areas of the country we’ve visited, we have tried to sample regional foods. In Savannah it was grits, buttermilk biscuits, orange marmalade, and caramel/pecan crusted fried chicken . . . vein clogging food. In New Mexico and Arizona, you’ll see guacamole, avocados and salsa on every menu. Here in Alaska, we’ve seen halibut and salmon.

We thought it was interesting that at one restaurant we visited, some recipes could be purchased to help fund the town library. We didn’t purchase the recipes but did sample the food; red pepper vinaigrette dressing, Hungarian mushroom soup, and banana cream pecan pie.

A fine casual dining restaurant we visited treated us with gourmet food presented on fancy plates. It was an entertaining, expensive experience. The most notable entree was the Smoked Salmon Soup (Grandma’s recipe, no less). This was a creamy potato based soup flavored with bacon, green onions, roasted red peppers, and smoked salmon. It was served in a bowl shaped like a fish, white porcelain with blue oriental markings.

For dessert, Death by Chocolate Suicide Cake was ordered. It was a three layer cake. The first layer was a fudgy, nutty, crumbly chocolate torte, the second layer was a chocolate mousse, and the third layer was a dark chocolate cake. Each layer was separated by a thick chocolate gnash and the cake was frosted with more of the same. It was served on white porcelain, scalloped edge pedestal cake plate. The cake was encircled with whipped cream, mint leaf and a scull off the side. It was to die for.

The restaurant we still want to try is the “Plate Lick’ in Good” breakfast restaurant. Here we’ll find the famous Alaskan sourdough blueberry pancake.

Linda’s hungry now just writing about all this and she thinks we should go OTE tonight.

Sarah Palin's Church in Wasella, AK

It was touched last fall but looks okay now.

Iditarod Headquarters

Moose Seem to be Everywhere

Portage Glacier Ice

Whittier AK Harbor

Mountains Near Whittier and Glacier Ice on Water

Going King Salmon Fishing Regardless of What Happens!

Today we traveled to Homer.

The day started out with a 2-hour delay in that our truck wouldn't start. So we had to call the Ford dealership to have it towed in and then called Enterprise Car Rental to have another truck delivered to us. Can you believe we rented the same color and model of our truck. We left our trailer in Palmer, and we are staying at a hotel in Homer while we are here. I guess we're having trouble with those "T" words again.

We're praying its not going to be an expensive ordeal. We are going salmon fishing tomorrow and will be on the boat, the Halibut Hunter, at 6 a.m. sharp!

We keep saying this but you would not believe the beauty here. This time we saw an active volcano for the first time. It had smoke coming out of the top of it. I guess it's really steam but smoke sounds more dynamic! Very impressive.

Alaska has 15 earthquakes a day on average. We haven't felt any yet but the summer is young. We toured the Wild Animal Conservation Area in Girdwood and saw how the 1964 earthquake sank the ground by 10 feet. It allowed sea water onto land and the area affected by the water flood still displays dead trees.

Attached are some of the pictures we've taken so far.

Traveling Around Turnagain Arm

Everything in Alaska is breathtaking. We passed through Turnagain Arm which is part of Cook Inlet. It is surrounded by snow capped mountains on both sides. The tide was low but the water glistened and glimmered in the sun. Linda kept watching for whales. How awesome is our creator God to design such beauty.

We went to Whittier. In order to get to the town we had to pass through a single lane tunnel which was 2 ½ miles long. This tunnel is also shared by the railroad so there are scheduled times to go through it.

If you take a cruise ship to Alaska, Whittier is a Port of Call. There are also many private boats docking in this harbor. It is the gateway to Prince Edward Sound.

We viewed the Portage Glacier in Moose Pass in this area also.

Then we continued our drive to the town of Hope. This town is really where the gold rush started in Alaska in 1888. The first dirt road to Hope was built in 1972. Before then their mail was delivered by dog sled.

We had lunch at a roadside cafe. While there we had a long visit with two Korean Airline Pilots which must have rented some motorcycles and ventured out a Anchorage and drove three hours just to eat there. Our waitress was from New Zealand. She’s married to an Alaskan and lives in Hope. Here husband was 400 miles away doing brick work with his Dad in Glenallen. She said he’d be home for supper as his mode of transportation was a light airplane.

We sat down with a crusty old dodger who was 79 years old. It looked like he hadn’t showered or washed his clothes all winter and his finger nails were blackened with dirt. We asked him what he did for a living and he said he just mines for gold.

Another strange character came in who looked like he just woke up from hibernation. He was writing a book about a survival incident he had in Alaska. Who knows how long he’s been writing this book.

Next a girl with a feather in her hat came in to the restaurant. She said she was the town historian and she gives people lessons on how to pan for gold.

Non of these folks had running water in their shacks but were quite content in life.

Before long we knew all their names and shared our life adventures.

The crusty old dog (the one we were afraid to sit next to) bought us lunch. His name is Bob. We both shook his hand and gave him a hug.

It was humbling to hear their life stories and for Bob to buy us lunch. Doug asked the Heavenly Father why He led us down this path today and put these people in front of us? He felt God was showing us how much He loved lost and lonely people.