In May 1985, Les Anderson and his fishing buddy, Bud, went early to the Lower Kenai for another day of salmon fishing. Veteran fishers and residents of the area, the set off early in their boat. Around seven am, Les hooked onto a fish that leaped in the air and came down over Bud's line. While Les tended his line with the fish on it, Bud untangled his line and pulled it in. He took over the boat and the salmon drug them a mile upstream and then back again. At one point, as the story goes, Bud turned the craft so quickly Les landed on his back in the bottom of the boat. After an hour of trying to land the fish and bring it into the boat, they decided to go to the shore and drag it to land. They finally got the fish into the boat. They decided to keep on fishing. Other fishermen saw the fish in the boat and encouraged them to get it to the official weighing spot, but they wanted to fish. Finally they went ashore, put the fish in the truck and drove around for a while in the warm sunshiny day. At two in the afternoon, they went to the check-in spot and learned they had the new official world record of a King Salmon caught on a rod...97 pounds, four ounces. Many think it would have exceeded 100 pounds had it been weighed immediately. As the story goes, Les always hoped someone would catch a 100 pounder and break his record. But it still stands!
The stuffed model in the Soldotna Visitor Center.
A few days ago, Al came to ask us if we wanted to see some clams given him by some campers. What came to mind, were the many clams we dug from the shores of Gouldsboro, and also the thought of the many steamers we have eaten. Anxiously, we followed him and saw this cooler full
of Razor Clams. As you can see they look quite different from the Atlantic Razor Clams. These are
considered the most sought after of the clam species here.
You can see how big this one is in his hand. Al said he will make clam chowder, and clam strips from these beauties.
Latona found a post card with Alaska Facts on it, so I decided it might be fun to share some of the new things we learned with you. Growing behind the van is the state flower, the True Forget-Me-Not.
Here are a few more.
* Mt McKinley is the highest peak in the US and is called Denali meaning Great One in Athabascan, the First Nation people of this area.
* Seventeen of the highest twenty peaks in America are in Alaska.
* There are over 100,000 glaciers in Alaska and the largest one, called Malaspina, is roughly the size of Rhode Island. About 5% of Alaska is covered by glaciers.
* Alaska has approximately fifty earthquakes each year with a magnitude greater than five.
* There are 70 or more active volcanoes and most are part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire". We will actually see some of them when we visit Homer in a day or two.
* Alaska, once part of Russia, became an organized territory after it was purchased by the US in 1867, and finally became the 49th state added to the Union in 1959.
And the final fact is definitely something we are experiencing as we approach the summer solstice. Yesterday, sunrise was at 4:33 am and sunset was at 11:40 pm, giving us 19 hours and 7 mins of daylight. We seem to be sleeping very well, but by 4 there is so much light it really seems like it is time to rise up and say, "Good Morning, Morning" (Maya Angelou)
Hope you are having a wonderful day as we approach the longest day of light on June 21!
We celebrate the Light!
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