A day in the Mountains

Combat fishing at its best - Once I get my fishing license, I will be the third guy on the right.

Today was just another typical Sunday. It started with Breakfast (lunch for most - 1:30pm) at the American Dinner. This place is a typical dinner with good cheap food. That is a must in a place that can drain your wallet dry faster than the Sahara in a dry spell. Nothing is free or cheap in Alaska. Everything comes at a price. Even getting to the best scenery will cost you a half a days hike, and about 3000 calories, although sometimes you do get lucky.

Today was also a lucky day. After the dinner, we headed to our storage unit to make sure that our trailer was still there. If it had been stolen, I could get almost a years rent back and afford the Taco Bell that we were going to eat tonight. Unfortunately
it was standing watch where we had left it several week hence. We decided to go shopping for recliners since the plastic sofa is only big enough for one, and not very comfortable. Dianne asked me where we should go, so I gladly advised her of the direction she should head.

On the way to our destination, she saw a garage sale sign. Now I do not know a women that can resist the allure of a garage sale, so I let her go. She sniffed around and looked at a couch that they had out for sale. I was worried that she might buy it and I would have to figure out how to get it home. She came back to the car and told me that there was nothing that she was interested in. I asked her about the couch. She said that it would not match anything. Intrigued, I asked how much they wanted for it. She said $30. I wanted to run out of the car and drag the couch home. Unfortunately home was 7 miles away, and I have a problem walking 7 feet, much less 7 miles. So the couch stayed. It was to be someone else’s prized find. We were off to find new recliners for watching the TV.

Dianne did not seem happy when we arrived at our destination. I tried to explain that sometimes you find the best things in the strangest places. Her response was, “So why are we at a shooting range again?” Women have the hardest time understanding the male brain. I explained to her that we needed to get information on the range in order to be prepared when we go shooting. She retorted with the typical female response, “We were supposed to be looking for furniture”. Yea, but now we are here, and we should check it out - It will be fun. She followed me reluctantly. We made our way to the range officers booth and asked all the necessary questions like if they allow bazookas, fully automatic weapons, rocket launchers, ect. The range officer explained that we could fire anything short of a nuclear bomb as long as we has the permits for it. I was satisfied, and we decided to leave. Upon leaving someone at the rifle range fired off something that must have been about a 642mm round. The sound knocked both me and Dianne to the ground. Upon getting up, Dainne inquired to me what that was. I answered that it was a gun. She responded by asking me what caliber it was. My response was, “big”. I may not know much about weapons, but I know a big gun when I hear it…

So off we went, across the river and through the woods (actually they were more like mountains) to the fish processing plant we went. Along the way we passed a stream full of combat fisherman. They were lined up shoulder to shoulder trying there best to land a trophy. It seems that some had already given up and were directing the action from the shore.

At the fish processing plant we discovered that not only did a fish processing plant smell like, well, a fish processing plant, but that they also sold Ptarmigan (see chicken Alaska for details). Satisfying our need to know where fish and chicken are processed, we decided to head home. Back down the mountain we headed trying our best not to burn out the breaks, or fall off side of a mountain.

It seems that these simple goats are in much better shape than me...

On our way back we noticed bunch of cars parked on the side of the highway. Since we were curious, and had nothing better to do, we joined the group. We quickly learned that they were watching a family of mountain goats high up on a cliff. Since I did not have a telephoto lenses, I decided to climb up the cliff to get a better photo of the goats. This is where I learned two valuable lessons. First, I should never attempt to scale a vertical cliff unless I have a death wish. Second, I am not in good enough shape to have a death wish. Instead I settled for pictures taken from the relative comfort and safety of the roadside. All in all is was a pretty productive day. I was able to get the price for range fees and shoot mountain goats all in the same day.