We went on the Tangle Lakes to the Delta River, about three hours from Fairbanks, left one car and the take-out point, drove up to the lakes and then floated down, fishing all the way. The weather was awful the week before our trip, but bright, sunny, warm during the day and cool at night for the whole weekend. Buggy during the night, but even that was managable.
We fished and fished, first for lake trout and then for grayling, filleting and eating our catch at night and still having lots left over to take home. We got quite fussy and threw back many more fish than we caught. But our catch each day was quite respectable.
The scenery was spectacular as we floated through mountains and flat areas and passed beaver lodge after beaver lodge!
And David and I did quite well in one canoe, with David as captain and me as mate.
Even the portage, which was in two parts...unload, carry, load, paddle, unload, (have someone else) carry was an adventure. That was not something I would look forward to doing again since the up was steep and the down even steeper over treacherous rocks, but it all added to the adventure.
Then it was back home, for a midnight dinner...and then early to bed for the next two nights.
For those of you who visit AK or who live here and want a great trip, go to http://alaskadreamadventures.blogspot.com/ and contact Tony who has been traveling these rivers since he was a little boy!
and then were lucky enough to meet up with Tom Moreau and his family at Exit Glacier on Friday morning. 
They are Dylan's friends who have a cabin near where he used to live in Homer and now live in Moab. We saw a lot of them whenwe were in Moab and like them quite a lot.
All Three boats caught a total of 3100 pounds of halibut which we split. Now our freezer has no room because it is all filled with halibut. Poor us! David is holdinga ling cod which, although suppsoedly very tastey, had to be thrown back because the season wasn't open yet. Fishing is very tiring
, got to see Meadow at an ice skating performance, saw great friends, picked up a spinning wheel, got bumped from my seat going out and got a compensation of $300.00 and an upgrade part way to first class, but had a 9 hour delay coming home. I cannot believe that we have been gone for over 1 year!!!
for Chicken Stock, a tiny bluegrass festival run by a lovely woman who I know from the Yukon Quest. Check out the stage.
of course, in Chicken Stock, you must have chickens...
My favorite time was when I was talking to the mandolin player from one of the bands,comparing people we knew and bands we liked, when a voice piped up from behind me, "Do you know Dylan from Homer?" Well, it turns out the voice belonged to a woman bass player whom Dylan had promised to meet in Cantwell the next weekend...and he had said he would meet us in Seward at the same time. The boy was busted, and when I called and asked hima bout it his comment was, "I knew this state wasn't big enough for both of us!"
Although Fred sleeps in the car at night, he did join me in David's sleeping bag in the morning! David volunteered to cook and I worked selling merchandise which was great fun.
The only problem was that it was FREEZING, WINDY AND RAINING. Yuck! it was really cold, but we were smart this time, our second camping trip with Fred, and we put him in the car for his camping sleep. It was so rainy and windy in the morning that we did not even stay for breakfast. I wanted to pack up and go home, but luckily David said we should continue and we did, on to Wiseman. 
Please note that this is May 23!
and then past the last spruce tree in the Brooks.
. And then over Adigan Pass into the Arctic tundra. Then we started seeing the wildlife! Ground squirres, caribou, a grizzly bear in the road, Dahl sheep and moose.
Unbelievably, there is a fairly unmarked BLM rustic campground right by Galbreith Lake, that lots of "in-the-know" folks seem to know about. Luckily, a Wiseman resident told us about it and we found it, unmarked though it was, and had the place to ourselves until about 10:30 pm which made it quite lovely. Rushing water, bright sun, blue skies, lots of snow and enough ground squirrels to keep poor Fred from sleeping!
We madde the mistake of going for a walk near the Chena River the last week of April during "mud season" First of all, most of the path was totally covered with snow, and the bridge that we had to cross over the river was covered in rushing water. Well, Fred hates water, and i knew that he would probably get swept away, so I went over the bridge first to check out the depth (over the top of my boots) and then David scooped old Fred into his arms and started across the bridge. He stumbled and went down...but ture to form, hung onto Fred and they both made it safely across. Now we were all wet and had about a 30 minute walk backt o the car in snow with soaking wet boots. What an April outing.
Here he is in an unadultered photo at 11:15 pm. Last night we finally put towels on one of the bedroom windows because we are having trouble sleeping. And with the warmth and light come the mosquitoes...first the big dopey ones, and then the small buzyy ones. Those are the ones I dread.
We knew we would be hiking in crusted snow so we borrowed snow shoes from David's work and took off straigh up a hillside.
Until I fell down! I fell in about 4 feet of snow, so that when I went to boost myself up, my arms plunged into the snow up to my shoulders and I had no leverage. Of course, i was positioned like a "V", so perhaps deep snow was no excuse.
When David slowly manuevered behind me to shove me upright, he fell down and pulled off a snowshoe. Well, we eventually got up and headed up the slope, until David fell, and rolled a bunch of feet down the hill. Up, down, eventually we got up to the top, with Fred, waiting patiently at every stop.
The view on top was wonderful. I still cannot get over the blue, blue sky!!
However, the snow is melting fast!
We were in Homer for a great Passover and Dylan's ladyfriend gave me a while new look. We also played poker, me for the first itme, and I won the $50.00 I put in and $10.00 on top of that. Maybe I'll start a new side career!
