Alaska Bound

ALASKA BOUND

After 10 months we were headed back to our mother country. Arriving in Miami was like someone just took the world of off mute. Even though our Spanish has come a long way it is so still so easy to block out any background conversations. Coming back to a place of English was like we could hear every conversation with on 30 feet, every person on the phone, every message over the load speaker, the radio, it was intense and annoying. Along the same lines it was hard to change our language, we found ourselves still saying Buenas, Gracias, que pena and more. But more than that my mind was still translating sentences preparing to ask people questions but then I was delighted in the quick second when I approached and realized I could just ask in English and therefore would completely understand the response.

But here we are back on our Beach in Alaska. Perhaps my most favorite place on the planet; rustic, simple, often too cold and cloudy but still there is a feeling we get here that cannot be found or recreated anywhere else. It is a combination of close friendships, good food, living in the moment, working for yourself and a relaxed lifestyle devoid of the commercialism and technology that inundate our lives off of the beach. There is a freedom here that allows you to really be free. Free to be creative, build, fix things and just not worry about things. Also there is a feeling of satisfaction we get from working for ourselves, earning money with our hands and our hard work.

It is good to be back.

Salmon, Salmon, Salmon

As many of you know we spend our summer commercial fishing for salmon. About five years ago we made some changes and started to market our fish on our own. We know send our fish to the lower 48 to friends, family, friends of friends, health food stores, a fish distributing company and to local families here in Alaska. Our goal is to keep this business going in the family some how or another and we hope to do this by someday selling all of our fish direct to our customers. If you know someone who may be interested send them to our website…. thesalmonpeopleofalaska.com or have them email us at thesalmonpeople@gmail.com

Thanks for all of you have read our blog and sent your comments. It turned out to be a really worth while venture. Not only for keeping family and friends who are far in our daily lives but also it has been an interesting task for me to put my experience in writing and have it to be able to look back on it today and perhaps many years down the road. Perhaps we will be back next year with another blog but until then have a wonderful summer.

Here are a few photos of the beach..

Pulling in a lot of fish...

A beautiful sunset at 11:30

Our Annual Art Swap. About 7 years ago I created this event and it has become a big success, something we all look forward to. Everyone takes some time during the season to make some type of art. Then we come together and do a Yankee Swap. I think about 26 people entered last year. The art pieces are creative, often impressive and sometimes just weird but it is an entertaining evening that has become a tradition.

Working on our gear shed. One of my favorite things about being here is the freedom to build and experiment.