My goals for this trip were simple, go somewhere different. I had been eyeing the flyer for the Alaska Academy of Family Practice Scientific Assembly for a few years and when a collegue also decided to go I decided to go and share expenses. Another friend came along, so we were a party of three.
A few things I read about Alaska held true.
1. The mosquitos are really big! But DEET works and the Cutter's protected well.
2. Alaska is really big! I spent 10 of my 14 day vacation on the Kenai peninsula, which is just a small part of the whole state.
3. Summer is tourist season...there are RV parks everywhere, lots of people fishing camping, sightseeing, hiking and camping.
4. The sun never sets in the summer. The weird thing is that the sun does set. I saw nice usual sunset colors and all, but it just didn't get dark the way night is supposed to!
5. "Layered clothes" are the way to go. And waterproof clothes are good to have.
My traveling partners wanted to fish as much as possible, so the first mission was buy the fishing license. They each got the King stamp, which allows one King salmon per person/day. I decided not to catch any Kings. I did buy the very attractive waders (see above)
I went salmon fishing on the Kasiloff River. It was very pretty. The salmon were biting but I didn't catch any. This is actually a good thing, as I like fishing, but don't like to catch a lot of fish. (gotta clean and eat them after, heh). I heard the term "combat fishing" frequently. As soon as a story of fish biting circulates, hundreds of people show up and line the streams. It can be dangerous with all the amateurs casting those great big hooks. And of course fish, attracks bears. Bears are very common, and I didn't really care to run in to any.
I also went halibut fishing. Okay, I'll 'fess up right off the bat. I got seasick and lost my cookies. After that I felt good and caught my limit of halibut. These fish start life as eggs and swim free until they are about an inch. Then one of their eyes migrates around and they settle to the bottom where they spend the rest of their life. The males grow slowly to 150 lbs or so. The females grow slowly to 800 lbs or so. The ones I caught were only 15-30 lbs! It is true though, that the biggest one of the day, got away. I had bruises in odd places as I tried to figure out the best way to reel those babies up. I had them vacuum packed, frozen and FedExed home. I'll have to try some recipes. The Thai coconut milk recipe looks really good.
One of the highlights of the boat ride was when Brandon, the deck hand, threw some bait (a frozen, imported herring) up in the air and a bald eagle swooped down and grabbed it out the water. Another bald eagle saw it and tried to grab it away. The two of them ended up going in circles and looked they were doing cartwheels. Pretty darn cool!
Coming up next: The Ididaride
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