Searching for Nessie

Before you get too excited, this is not about Bella and Edward's love child.  Sorry, I'm not sorry.  This is about an elusive and awesome creature known as the Halibut!  It was my first halibut fishing trip and was a constant on my 35x35 bucket list!  Well, my Husband shot me full of Dramamine and threw me on a boat this past Sunday for better or for worse.  I can honestly say it was for better!  

I caught my first Halibut!! 

Early Sunday morning we took off from the Harbor for some shrimping & fishing.  It was a gorgeous and rare sunny Cordova day.  I was all hopped up on Dramamine, lunch was packed, pots were stacked (that's shrimp pots to you) and Lou was on board.  Oh, you don't know Lou?  Well riddle me this Batman- where do you go to the bathroom on a boat with no bathroom?  Well my friends I'm here to shock and horrify you... you use a bucket!  Ha!  I can see your face know and I'm LOLing SO hard!!  So there's this thing called a Luggable Loo (that I named Lou, cute huh?) and I'm just gonna let you see for yourself, here.  Or, if you are so inclined you could use the She wee, I am not so bold or talented.  Mind. Blown.  But I digress...

 My husband's boat and a couple of his goofy co-workers!

The USS Sycamore

First things first we set out our shrimp pots after filling them with catfood- yum.  *insert gag reflex* Wait, does this mean we're eating cat food?  Well D said if I wanted to look at it that way then- kind of, but you don't eat the stomach of the shrimp so we're probably good.  Whew.  Fancy feast is not on my gourmet list!

Our first pot- 2 shrimp!  Shrimp tally ended up at 22 for the final count, enough to feed us, but now we know where to hit!  It was a lot like watching the Deadliest Catch and feeling your stomach heart sink every time it came up empty!

 Here shrimpy shrimpy... 

No judging, it worked for the Halibut!

 Most people think that Halibut is this really pretty fish swimming through the ocean in some underwater Little Mermaid song and I'm about to burst your pretty little oxygen filled bubble. 

Let me introduce you to the Halibut.  My halibut.  That's Hal.  Bam- what a looker not.

He sure is tasty though!

At 53.7lbs and 4ish feet long this fatty was hard to pick up!!!  Get in my belly!!!

Here are a couple more pics of our awesome adventures in the deep blue sea!

Catching a ride on our shrimp pot- lazy!

Fun fact: I'm OBSESSED with starfish.  You're welcome.

The underside to a starfish... he was totally feeling me up.  Inappropriate!

Da plane, Da plane!  Anyone?  Bueler....?

Well, hey there!

Rude... pssssstttthhhhh to you to.  Good day sir.  I said good day!

 All in all it was a fantastic day.  Heck, any day I spend on a boat and don't spend the majority of it sick I put in the win column!  D and I had a wonderful day and I'm so thankful for my husband coming up with all of these new experiences for me! 

What will be next?  What else can I conquer on my 35x35 this year?  Should I go fishing again, just for the HALIBUT?  Haha, had to.

Until next time...

 

Travel Tuesday!

Since it's Travel Tuesday over at Lost in Travels I thought I would give you a sneak peak of the long overdue vacation pics!  

Wanderlust: Engaged!

 

 

 Where will your wanderlust take you?

Until next time...

Cara Box Reveal!

I know, I know... I'm a little late!  Have you read my post on how amazing I am at procrastination , here?  Well I'm pretty much a pro and then you add forgetting my box at work, a full weekend and Monday sick.  Yep, I'm awesome.

                        Anywho...

What's a Cara Box you ask?  Well let me tell you! It's pure awesomeness all wrapped up in a flat rate box!  Ok, so it's a little more than that...

Cara Box is a gift exchange of sorts where you get paired with another blogger (or non blogger, yes- there's a special place for you too), you learn about them and then send them super fun stuff!  There is a different theme each month to spark your creativity!

This month I was paired up with Abby and Brittany!

Abby is pretty much dripping of sweetness and as a Preschool Teacher, it's pretty fitting!  Abby and I hit it off instantly and now gab like we're old college buddies!  Love it!  Abby blogs over at Always Abby- cute name, right?  I learned that Abby is a living in complete newlywed bliss and you can completely see it by the way she talks about her husband.  Seriously, so cute!  Also, Abby has a love for teapots that I totally capitalized on.  Check out the Cara Box I sent her, here.  I think she kind of liked it?  There is all kinds of goodness on her blog from awesome activities for Teachers, Sunday Social link ups and so much more!  Go check it out and don't miss her 25 before 26!!

Brittany blogs over at Adam-N-Brittany, Life in Dixie!  It was so great getting to know her.  This lady has a pretty fantastic blog if I do say so myself- and I do, so check it out!  Brittany and her Hubby moved to the South from Southern Cali and her blog explores that journey, her bucket list, travel and some awesome recipes to boot!  She was very sweet and completely knocked my socks off with what she sent me!  I'm one lucky girl!! 

And now, my Cara Box goodies!

Aren't you jealous?!  You should be!!  I mean can you see this?

And this?  

And seriously.... I die.

Brittany's gifts were so thoughtful and creative!  How did I win the awesome partner lottery? 

Do you Cara Box??

Until next time...

Salmonberries- like the fish?

I've been doing a lot of research on food lately.  What I should be eating, where it comes from and the processes various foods go through to get to my tummy.  I don't have a green thumb so while I enjoy fresh produce immensely, you won't see me wearing garden gloves anytime soon!  However, I've been learning that Alaska is full of natural and sustainable resources!  From the fresh seafood, wild game and produce that comes from this State it's interesting that there aren't more Hippies here.  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty, but my point is that I'm pretty sure you could live strictly off the land.  Oh wait, I've seen Life Below Zero on Nat. Geo. following some of these crazy awesome Alaskans who do it!  Anywho...

Yesterday D and I decided to go on a little expedition for these:

Meet the Salmonberry.

Rubus spectabilis as the nerd-tastic community calls them, are readily available in our area!  The Salmonberry gets their name from their roe (fish egg) like appearance.  These berries taste nothing like fish eggs, trust me!  Salmonberries look a lot like raspberries and grow in a bush with seriously thorny limbs.  I don't know how many times I heard expletives from the Husband or myself!  You can read a bit more on these berries from this amazing website or the ever so dependable Wikipedia page!  Please tell me you can hear the sarcasm oozing from my "voice"...anyone, Buler?

Just like the fishing spots I spoke about here, people guard their berry picking honey holes fiercely!  D and I decided to head out and try our luck at a few different locations to see if we could get any of these seasonal and delectable morsels!  I'm happy to say after about 2 hours we had 2lbs of berries and a lot of fun!  

How do you make picking berries fun you ask?  Well, you put one competitive husband and wife team together and then try to get the biggest berry while seeing who can fill their bucket first.  I clearly won.  Also- I became the look out while D tried to Michael Jordan it up the cliff to grab some golfball sized beauties.  No, we weren't doing anything illegal not that I would tell you, it was a bear lookout!  SO. FUN.  My inner nature girl was beaming, even while swatting away massive mosquitoes!

Salmonberry recipes coming to a blog near you!  Sustainability and nature are rocking my socks off!  Go AK!

Until next time...