Day 30

Valdez is a great town. We had a great day. It is so nice to be away from the rain. We got up and I went to the office to register. The lady working told us about a road on the outskirts of town. It is the road that leads to the oil terminal. Along this road is a rocky coastline flanked by forest. There are bears that come down to eat salmon, fishing from the bank , and eagles she said. I bought some lures and we packed up and off we went. We arrived and there was some fog that was still hanging. There were several sea lions on a rock growling. The pink salmon are thick in here so we got out the rods and casted. I got some bites, but we enjoyed the wildlife. It was then that I had another fleeting perfect moment. As I was fishing in this beautiful sound in Alaska, with just a bit of fog hanging over the water, breathing clean air, a large bald eagle swooped down from the trees. It glided along the water almost effortlessly and finally dropped his talons into the water and grabbed a fish and flew off into the fog. Amazing. It is so beautiful here and it seems so alive. I managed to catch one pink salmon. One of the rods broke so we headed to town to make lunch and get a new rod. We fried some of the halibut we caught and the salmon we caught and made fish and chips. We took it to the park and Grant played and we had a picnic. Grant of course made fast friends with all the kids there. He tried to join in with some people that were doing Yoga. We went back home and Amy and I left Shari with the kids and we went fishing for more salmon. We caught several and then it slowed a bit. In some areas they were so thick it was like a swarm. After you catch the fish you take it out onto the rocks and find a big rock and bash the head to kill it as they are half crazy when you pull them out. I felt like Gollum in Lord of the Rings. We moved to a different spot and got into them again. A group of Air Force families from a nearby base showed up. One of the guys was obviously from the south. He was whooping and hollering and having a good old time. We got the rest of our limit and not a moment too soon as the lady that passed selling ice cream said a grizzly had come down on the other end of the beach. Time to go. We came back to the campsite and I had to clean all those fish. That took a while and we packed them and put them in the freezer. This pink salmon will make good fish and cuocou. Tomorrow the journey home begins.