It was a hard decision this year whether to go to Alaska or not. We were torn and concerned about what was the responsible choice. We also desperately needed to get away from town. In the end, we got our tests (negatives, all), bought tickets (super painful) and headed north.
Everyone masked up for the day and it was a tremendous relief to arrive and get to take them off! We arrived on the 4th of July and there was NOTHING in town to commemorate a usually raucous holiday. Crickets.
Nevertheless, the neighborhood gathered for our traditional fireworks and shared meal. The lead pyrotechnic started immediately.
We shot the golf ball gun
and everyone had chances to fire it.
Braced for kickback...
It's always a popular diversion!
Mitch and Grampa were in charge of lighting the mortars and they always managed a safe getaway!
Shan enjoyed some sparklers.
The next day was an extremely low tide and we went for a walk in the tidal flats, locating countless urchins and starfish. The colors were beautiful (and the no-see-ums were out in force!). There are no remaining pictures of these beauties, though, for reasons soon to be told...
Shannon was so excited to arrive when we did because our trip overlapped with Shia's for a couple days. Shan was delighted to go fishing with her family for a day.
In addition to fishing, the girls went to town, ate at Harbor Bar (!), and went shopping. They were delighted to reconnect!
The rest of us went jigging for herring. Mitch and I might be related.
We also went fishing. Since I had forgotten the camera in the trunk of the car in Seattle, I took Bryan's phone to document the outing. The phone did not make it and now resides at the bottom of the Narrows, no doubt covered with barnacles. At least I caught a fish to sort of redeem myself.
At the cabin, the guns were out almost immediately upon arrival. Mitch is a dead eye with the BB gun.
He also got to shoot the .22!
Annie Oakley was not about to be outdone.
We went out in the canoes numerous times, exploring the back bay, as well as Rainbow Cove.
And the swing was always in use when we were home!
Fishing continued. Mitch was the big salmon slayer this year. He brought in two trolling (on two separate outings).
The second one was a major challenge to bring up - and there was some concern that Mitch might end up overboard!
We did go up the river once. It was a lot of African Queen reenacting. There were fish in the river, but they weren't biting. We came back empty-handed from that jaunt.
The tides and forecast for halibut improved through the trip and we went out several times. It's always so much work to go!
And the outfits are awesome...
The first time we came home with a nice sized one from Bryan and a little chicken from mom. That necessitated halibut tacos - which makes for a happy Moose!
Lots of great breakfasts from Dad, too. Alaska is no longer a place to go for below-average fare!
We had lots of beach fires and roasted dogs, s'mores and even some jalepeno elk sausages from Montana Mike.
Mitch was very "into" chess this trip and got just about everyone to play him. Gnat Man thumped him, but he was successful most of the rest of the time. We all conceded to play Monopoly one evening, as well. There was a time limit and a couple grandparents may have done their utmost to lose...
For our final halibut outing, Shan got to captain the ship for a bit.
We posed for a pre-fishing photo and then went to work. Mom brought in the first one, and there were a few other major bites that got away.
Then Mitch and Bryan both had a fish on (thankfully Shannon noticed Bryan's line!). Unfortunately Mitchell's got away, but Bryan landed our biggest halibut yet.
His was 66 lbs and Mom's weighed 32 lbs - major success!
Grampa filleted it and I think we got 19 pieces from this beast.
We enjoyed the trip and had wonderful weather. It was mostly cool and only rained on us a little bit. Bryan and I went to town for errands once and stopped at Falls Creek as a "date".
We were lucky that the weather allowed for many evenings on the beach with crab, shrimp and good company.
Snuggles and books with Grama
Watching an eagle feed with Grampa
We were so happy to have made the trip this year. Being up there felt normal.
The kids even got to see Lucky Lodge with Grampa and returned with rainbow fanfare to our Rainbow Cove. Huzzah for Alaska!
