Chitina & McCarthy

On Sunday June 28 we processed the 21 Copper River Red (sockeye) salmon that Jerry dipnetted for this weekend in Chitina!!! It was quite the trip. We left on Thursday after lunch and met one of Jerry’s friends from work over there. We decided to pop the top on the camper van right at the parking lot of O’Brien creek where Jerry would be leaving from at 5am. O’Brien Creek is just a mile from Chitina. I stayed with the boys there all day while they fished. A water taxi took them up the canyon a ways and dropped them off on a big schist rock. Around lunchtime I asked the guy who owned the taxi if he would consider letting us go along when he did his check up on everyone. He agreed and we really shocked Jerry. The boat guy actually dropped us off on the rock and left us there while he continued down the canyon and then picked us up on the way back. It was great! Jerry was out for 12 hours and they netted 42 reds. The limit for a household is 30, so they didn’t make the limit, but why be so greedy! They were exhausted!! They gutted the fish and got them on ice and then our friend headed back to Anchorage and took our fish with him. We were going on to McCarthy…we thought. It’s a pretty bad road. After only 3 miles, our awning on the van flew off! We decided to head back to Chitina and got a room there. In the morning at breakfast we were faced with going home or figuring out how to get to Kennecott that day. The thing that pushed us over the edge was the incredible weather we were having. So we made the decision which will have me working some extra days at the pharmacy this summer…we flew over!!! It’s 60 miles and is a 30 minute flight. They take you over a glacier and the scenery was incredible. The boys just loved it. We toured the Kennecott Mine, spent about 6 hours over there and then flew back and drove home to Anchorage. It was (and still is) like an amazing dream.

So we spent Sunday processing the fish. We smoked some, froze some and I actually canned 24 pints all by myself with mom's old canner. Can you believe it??!!! I could have used my mom but I read about 5 different sets of directions. I think they turned out. I’ll know tomorrow when we open one up!

Catching Up

So the last entry was in July...pretty despicable.

Amy and I have been enjoying our time here in Anchorage. Amy continues her work at Providence Alaska Medical Center, and I like the new challenges as I manage the Outpatient Pediatric Clinic at Alaska Native Medical Center. We are both working full time, but Amy continues to homeschool the boys, so she actually has two full time jobs. The city continues to feel like a wild place. Moose cruise through our neighborhood regularly, there were a few bear maulings on the east side of town last summer, there is a decent salmon run in the creeks that run through the city (one of which is one block from our house), and the trails through the city can take you anywhere. Anchorage is very culturally diverse and we have discovered lots of great ethnic food, but no Ethiopian restaurant, yet. One of our favorites, Yak and Yeti, serves Himalayan influenced food. The boys would say their favorite restaurant would be either Bear Tooth Theaterpub & Grill that serves you pizza while you watch your favorite flick or Chuckie Cheese's.

The summer flew by. After the Katmai trip in July, Amy's family arrived in August for a whirlwind tour. We had a great time hosting everyone. Our excursions to Denali, Palmer, Wasilla, Seward, Alyeska, and Portage Glacier were mostly cloudy and cool, but still beautiful and full of great memories. The fall was short, but nice. We did go blueberry picking on the hillside above town...no bears. The snow arrived in early October which made a nice backdrop for the moose we found on the Powerline trail in the Chugach.

It has not made it above zero over the past week. However, the cold has added to our fun this winter. We did get the boys up on skates several times and we went cross country skiing and snowboarding last week. We are glad the boys love the winter because we have four more months of it!