Sept 3, 2010 Labor Day Weekend

August 2010. Did you know that August 2010 had 5 Sundays, 5 Mondays and 5 Tuesdays? This happens only once every 823 years. Now that you have learned something today let's look at the pictures.

Friday, Sept 3, my day at school started with my good luck moose. The big mama moose (about 7 - 7 1/2 feet high) and her calf (about 4 months old) decided to peak into my class room window. The principal and several male teachers tried to get the moose to move along so I could have class. It took about one and half hours so I didn't get to teach my first period classes. Awh shucks! Here is my moose visitors.The chain link fence is 10 feet high so you can see how big Mama Moose is. Then my co worker, Scott, told me about his son shooting his first moose on the homestead. When they dressed the moose, they left the internal organs in a pile outside, and within an hour a BIG brown bear showed up. His son also shot his first bear. Scott's son is 6 foot 3 inches. So check out how big the bear was by comparing their hands. Amazing. AK residence can kill one moose and one bear per season. Scott said he would gladly share some meat with me so I can make some more delicious meals. After school on Friday, I picked up my sister-in-law and husband ,Nan and Bob, who were on a cruise and had a free evening. We returned my rental car, my car has been in the shop for over a week, so we took a small detour to the Alaska Wildberry Candy Shoppe and Chocolate Factory. It is a delicious place to visit. I can't believe I hadn't been there sooner. When you walk in the store, you are greeted by huge stuffed moose and bear, and then your eyes see the most wonderful chocolate delight. A 20 foot tall CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN! It is amazing. It was build in 1994, it flows over 3,400 pounds of liquid chocolate and it smells wonderful!!!The crate in the front right hand side of the chocolate fall is full of solid chocolate chunks that are waiting to be melted. The best part is they serve freebie samples. The Wildberry Store provides most of the AK chocolate around the state. They happen to have other items such as delicious syrup, coffees, teas, t-shirts and other souvenir items. The hat is a moose hat. I love moose!!!! The chocolate candy bar is the largest in the state - 4 foot by 2 feet solid chocolate. It smells so good in this shop.

On Saturday, Beth and I left at 4 am to drive to the Kenai Peninsula for a fishing trip. The Kenai is the fishing heaven of the world according to the AK fisherman. The rivers, Kenai and Russian, are the most turquoise color. It has very little dirt in it and the water comes from the snow on the mountains and glaciers. The Drifter Lodge is a pretty well-known hunting/fishing lodge right on the Kenai. We saw dozens of Eagles. This big boy was across the river from his. Several times he flew to where we stopped to fish for silver salmon. It was almost like he was waiting for us to hook a fish for him. I am Hooked on fishing - it was a blast. The Rainbow trouts, Dolly Varden trouts and Sockey (red) salmon were everywhere. We went to catch silver salmon so we could have a fish fry at our house. (we bought a small gas grill last week). Beth and I had these grandiose ideas of catching a lot of fish for this upcoming fish fry. We are so glad we didn't invite anyone yet. We brought home two small fish. The Fishing law states, you can catch two rainbow (if they are not over 16 inches), two dolly (also can't be over 16 inches) and two silver salmon. We brought home our two fish to eat this weekend. I caught the first fish a 16 inch dolly. She is so pretty silver with pink polka dots.The fish gets her name from a Dickens story where Dolly Varden wore very colorful outfits. Beth caught the trophy fish, a 26 pound Rainbow. She has silvery skin and a rainbow of pink and yellow on her sides. It took her 25 mins. to bring that big boy into the boat. The guide, Jason, loved the size of her Buc Bow. That means, a male rainbow. I am almost a pro fisherman which you can see by the pictures. I caught all my rainbows with my fly reel. I really like fly fishing. We used dry bait b/c that is all that is allowed in the Kenai. I used a spin reel to catch the Sockeye. My Sockeye, the big red salmon, was about 28 inches and about 30 pounds. It had big biting teeth so we were careful getting it out of the net. The sockeye are on their way upstream to lay eggs. It was fun battling this big fish and what a smile I had on my face when it was held. Beth was a bit jealous because she always had to work so hard to catch her fish. Mine just seemed to come along with a small battle. I love fishing. I like the spin reel because it is fun to see if I can cast to the spot I have selected. I get close but not on the spot. Whereas fly fishing is a lot more action. Cast, adjust, watch the indicator (aka bobber), recast, etc. I caught most of my fish (5) with a fly rod. I caught 2 with the spin rod. I love the waders - they kept me so dry and warm. My fun picture is 1/2 way through the day we stopped for a "pit stop". Yep, that is the famous Alaskan Amber beer coming aboard the float boat. The guide told us beer and fishing are a wonderful combination. So we pulled into a getty about 4 hours into our fishing trip and we walked across the highway to a small snack shack and liquor store. We fit right in with the other customers - waders, life vests and big fish tales!!! After 8 hours of fishing, we were ready to eat some food and get a good nights sleep. Remember, we left Anchorage at 4 am and now it was 6:30 pm. We stopped in the town, Hope, AK to eat. I haven't been there and it was cute and quaint. This is the restaurant we had the best seafood chowder and Reuben sandwich. We chatted with two locals. They had plenty of "fish tales" to share. We laughed a lot. They couldn't believe we were driving back to Eagle River, about 3 hour drive. They finally decided it was because we were "young and dumb" to drive on a holiday weekend. Beth and I nicknamed them "The Grumpy Old Men". The one on the right was very grumpy but I think it was his style b/c he made a lot of fun of his friend and any other person that walked by. Then I have to end with another beautiful sunset from my deck. I have the most wonderful view and the reds, pinks and yellows make it spectacular to end the night. We have about 15 hours of daylight. It is difficult to get to bed early because it doesn't even get dark until 9:30 pm. So I bid you good night. Enjoy your weekend. I will post again next weekend. I will have more pictures since my sister and brother in law are here. Then my Aunt Sharon arrives for a week. Lots of fun to be had!

Enjoy, Sheryl the Nanuq of the north.