July

The ship was out for the first 10 days of July, but there were quite a few events to keep us busy.  All of our moving around has taught me that the 4th of July is best celebrated in a small town, and Homer is no exception.  The American Legion put on a children's carnival.  I expected rubber ducks in a plastic pool and a pie eating contest, and I was correct, but there were many more booths and games too.  The kids had a blast and really love that they run into people they know everywhere.  Kate is to the age where she can just roam a small event like this with her buddies and feel really independent.

The Homer parade was in the evening and I worried a bit about the inevitable unequal distribution of candy because Kate is an animal at these events.  James usually doesn't care though so I just hoped for the best.  All my worry was for not though because James is also an animal.   When the U.S. Senator came by in the car, James ran up with his hands out, "Where is the candy?" he yelled.  He also had a technique I've never seen before whereby he would follow the float down the street and keep catching candy from the same float, stepping in front of the people waiting along the curb.  Unorthodox, embarrassing (for me), and successful all at the same time.

Kate, James, and friends waiting for the parade to start.

 

Here is when it all breaks down: Kate loses all civility when the first piece of candy is tossed out.

 

Early July also brought the second annual Kachemak Bay Highland Games.

Fish and chips, tartans, and of course pipes and drums never disappoint.  The Crow Creek Pipe and Drum Corps that came down from Anchorage to play donned the Ramsay plaid as well.  Banner day.

 

James wore the kilt my grandfather brought to me from Scotland when I was just a wee one and made us all proud competing in the children's caber toss (cardboard carpet roll--genius!),

 

stone put, and Alaska's unique salmon toss.

 

 

  

Although the salmon in the toss was stuffed, the second run of "real" sockeye salmon started in mid-July.  There are five types of salmon here: 
Sockeye (Red)
Pink
Coho (Silver)
King (Chinook)
Chum

I have decided to focus all my efforts on the reds because they are most delicious.  Lucky for us, the state marks specific areas for personal use dip netting for Alaska residents only.  We are now Alaska residents (more on that this fall), so we can take 55 sockeye salmon for our household.  We are constantly learning about the subsistence living opportunities provided to Alaska residents.  First, it was one Christmas tree, now it's 55 of some of the best salmon in the world.  Standing around with a rod and reel seems silly when you can drop a net with a six foot diameter in the river to catch salmon swimming upstream. 

Until now, I've never caught a fish in my life, so I am very happy with this method.  We went on three different occasions and brought home 24 fish.  Many families drive for hours and camp at the beach until they get their quota.  It's a crowded, crazy scene during dip net season.  We are lucky to be 1.5 hours from the Kasilof and Kenai Rivers, so we made day trips.  It is certainly easier than casting and reeling in, but at times it felt like playing a slot machine.  We would check the sonar counts (below) and tide charts each night and try to predict when the run would spike. 

The fish come in waves.  The river is lined with people dip netting and either everyone is standing and talking or everyone is catching fish faster than they can put them in the bucket.  On our first trip, Brian was catching so quickly that I became in charge of gutting.  Not the role I had envisioned for myself, but Alaska does not disappoint in the crazy adventures department and I always love learning something new.

The kids were fired up for the first couple and helped to bonk the fish (put them out of their misery) and clip the tails (a dip net catch requirement).

Then, they took to building sand castles.  Next year, we hope to hit our quota as we will be better prepared with the necessary gear.  We are currently taking reservations for our guest room next summer...want to come visit in mid-July to witness the spectacle, watch the kids for us while we fish, and most importantly eat wild Alaskan sockeye salmon?

After watching YouTube videos, talking to friends, and even watching the guys on the spit, we are halfway decent at filleting our own catch.  Here is Brian at the public fish cleaning station on the Homer spit.

 

 

Brian's has mastered the smoked salmon already. Amazing.

Brian and the crew tapped into to some great fishing spots this month as well.  The ship worked buoys during the day and then dropped anchor for the night in what they hoped to be good halibut fishing spots.  Apparently, over half the crew was out at two in the morning fishing (still light out of course).  Assembly line fillet and vacuum sealing allowed many crew members to come home and stock their freezes.  Perfect timing for us as we had just run out of last summer's supply. 

Someone on board caught a giant octopus, so there was 3am ceviche and calamari too. 

 

The weather in July continued to break records.  It seemed like everyday was sunny and warm(ish).  The kids went for another swim in the bay,

and we took out our paddle board for some stand up paddle on the reservoir.

Kate is getting pretty good.

 

Tutka Bay Lodge, accessible only by boat, helicopter or float plane, is a high end wilderness lodge across the bay from us.  Overnight accommodations are $1000 per person per night, so this is not a place we planned to visit.

However, an ad in the paper advertising an evening of local seafood prepared by the on-site chef, served outdoors on the deck, and featuring poetry by local fishermen and women provided a perfect opportunity to experience the place without the overnight costs. 

The weather was unbeatable and the scenery out of a magazine for sure.  As our boat arrived there was another small boat pulling up with fresh oysters.  We stepped off the boat to drinks and oyster shooters and then the night got better with...

 

crab legs, impossibly huge halibut steaks,

 

smoked and grilled salmon, as well as paella.

 

 

 

The dinner was somewhat small with about 40 people under the tent. 

 

We sat between a local fisher poet and nationally recognized novelist from Homer.  The poetry readings were a meaningful and enjoyable way to think about the food on our plate. Here is a short poem shared during the dinner.

 

Kitchen Scales

by Meezie Hermansen

 

Chinook, coho, sockeye, and pink

Eat your salmon however you think

Try salmon pate, dip, or spread

Or salmon salad on slices of bread

Smokes, baked, poached, or broiled

Kippered or pickled or even boiled

Burgers, bisque, chowder and cakes

Cavier, crepes, fillets, and steaks

Salt fish, jerky, or fish head soup

Pan fried, grilled, soufflé or mousse

Whether fancy or plain, however it's styled

Make sure all the salmon you eat is wild

 

 

Speaking of local food, our garden boxes are blowin' up.  The salad is super tasty and we can barely eat all that we're growing.  There is currently a daily minimum salad requirement in our house.

 

The carrots are yummy, but their growth was a bit stunted by the water reservoir in the bottom of the box,

 

 

so next year we'll put them in the ground.  We are still waiting for the potatoes, but the broccoli and peas look just about ready.  Who knew broccoli plants were huge and that they flower?

 

 

Container gardening has been a lot of fun.  Low maintenance, high yield. 

 

 

 

 

 

Operation Purple

This July, Kate had the privilege of attending Operation Purple at Camp Kenai on Kenai Lake.  The camp is organized by the National Military Family Association known for supporting military spouses with educational scholarships, organizing and funding retreats to help military families reconnect after dealing with a war-related injury or after long separations, and sending 45,000 military children to summer camp.  The camp gives priority to children who have recently experienced a deployed parent.  Most of the attendees came from the joint Air Force/Army base in Anchorage, but there were several Coast Guard kids as well.  I'm sure Hickory's 220+ days away this year helped Kate gain admission.  Kate's best friend from school is also from a Coast Guard family as her dad's serves on a Coast Guard cutter based out of Kodiak Island.  So Kate, Laura, and her older sister Amy set off for their first experience at sleep away camp. 

From the day school got out in May until July 14, Kate was counting down the days.  I don't think she had a nervous bone in her body.  Here she is helping to pack her bag.

Kenai Lake in Cooper Landing is outlandishly beautiful.  I can't think of a better place to spend a week meeting new friends and enjoying nature. 

Kate (above) with all her gear awaiting her cabin assignment and the arrival of the campers being bused in from Anchorage.

Kate and Laura grabbed the top bunks and then asked us if it was time to leave yet.

James would have been lost at home without Kate, but we had company to keep him busy.  He was thrilled to receive a letter from Kate though. 

When we picked up Kate on Friday, the first thing she asked is if she could stay another week.  The ride home was great as Kate talked non stop.  Below is a list dictated by Kate of all the things they did along with her comments and observations. 

• Camp in a tent one night with three other girls and no counselor.  Hang flashlight from loop at top of tent and have a disco party.
• Hike to Russian River falls.  See tons of big salmon spawning in the river.
  

• Canoe Kenai Lake, collect mud for glacial facial later that night during girls night in the cabin.
• Play Gaga Ball.

• Learn to start a fire with match and flint.
• Sing lots and lots of fun songs.
• Try and like new foods in the dining hall (tacos, but eating all items separately, noodles with tomato sauce on top, and egg bake).  Appalled that there was no milk all week (there is no electricity at camp and the kitchen runs on a generator, so refrigerator space is most likely limited). 
• No longer interested in snacks.  Prefer eating 3 large meals a day.
• Make tie dyed t-shirts.
• Loved competing for camp awards like Golden Dustpan (cleanest cabin) and Least Amount of ORT.   Each table in the dining hall weighed uneaten food (ORT) at the end of the meal.  The table with the least amount of ORT/wasted food was awarded a small prize.
• Raft the Kenai River and see a baby bear on the bank of the river.
• Dunk 17 times in the Glacially fed Kenai Lake to earn Kodiak Bear status.
• Use sauna to warm up after swimming in lake.
• Join Polar Plunge Club by sleeping in bathing suit and waking early to jump in the lake before breakfast.

Seward: Part Deux

Since our day trip into Kenai Fjords National Park was cancelled last fall due to inclement weather, we opted to reschedule for the summer when we were more likely to see whales, and we invited some friends to come along.  We stopped at the Russian River again for a little fishing, not catching.  Salmon Beware: One way or another, we're going to get you!

There is a military "resort" in Seward (more like a posh fish cleaning station).  The place is nice, but the draw for most seems to be the reduced price fishing charters and the fish cleaning house.  It was pretty full in the evening with cutting, gutting, filleting and vacuum sealing.  How nice not to do that at your house or hotel though.  Anyway, all of the hotel rooms and condos were booked, so lucky for Brian and the kids, we had to camp.   We used the ship's morale tent again.  The new camp mats were a great improvement, but a four person tent is too small for us.  We can't fit any stuff inside, so we left everything in the car parked by the really nice and new bathhouse.  We kept walking to the car to change clothes or get a toothbrush or whatever.  We had more amenities than the average camper in Alaska... café on site, hot showers, flush toilets, and a playground, but we experienced the more traditional aspects of camping as well:  s'mores, canned beer, and cramped sleeping.  Jessie dog loves the tent.  She sleeps at the end of the sleeping bags and whenever anyone makes any attempt to sit up she stands and wags her tail (Is now the time we go out?).  The tent is so small and her tail so powerful that it hits three of the four walls making loud noises and sending me in full panic mode that she will wake the children and I will have to begin my day at a dreadful hour.  All in all the kids slept pretty well as they played hard all day and stayed up late.

We stayed two nights and took a 6 hour day trip into Prince William Sound to Kenai Fjords National Park on a high speed catamaran on day two. 

Heading out into Resurrection Bay

 

The captain looked like he was 12 years old, so we were all a bit worried, but Brian and our friend Jay, an Alaska Marine Highway Pilot, gave everything the once over and away we went.
Seward is known for overcast skies and rainy weather, so we felt lucky that not only was the sky blue and the temperature around 60, but the seas were calm as well.
We saw a humpback whale and calf frolicking, several orca whale sightings including a large, lone whale, mama and juvenile (pictured below), and a small pod. 

We also saw a stellar sea lion colony,

sea otters,

 

 

puffins, and dall's porpoise.  The porpoise were by far my favorite as they love to play in the bow wake and swim along with the boat. They have the coloring of an orca, but are obviously much smaller.  They were fast and playful and worth looking up if you've never heard of them.  I just decided to enjoy them with the kids and not bother trying to mess with the camera.

Next, we hit Holgate Glacier.

 

We sat and watched the glacier for 15 minutes or so and saw it calve, or drop ice chunks into the water, several times.  It was the coolest.

Who knew it sounded like dynamite when a few chunks of ice fall into the ocean?  The crew scooped up several small and large pieces of floating ice in a net and let all the children (and me) hold it.

Then, they chopped up the ice and used it to serve margaritas for the ride back. James, a bit exhausted from the late nights camping this week, fell asleep for about an hour on what could be considered the dashboard of the catamaran.  It was precious, as are all sleeping children really.

While James was sleeping, Kate was sworn in as a Junior Park Ranger for her work on board, receiving a badge before we docked.

All and all it was a great trip for the family time, wildlife sightings, and time with friends.