Madeleine Monday - Fishing Derby

A couple we know have a house in the countryside outside of St. Louis. It's where we went to see the solar eclipse last year. There is a big pond, access to the Meramec River, big fields and ATVs. They host an annual summer party with lots of activities for children.

Mrs. C, Emily and Ellie attended. (I was stuck in the office writing the materials for a talk I'm giving at an upcoming legal conference.) There was a fishing derby for the little ones and guess who won the prize for the biggest fish? It was all of 7 inches / 18 cm long but my was she proud. It's an activity I could not have helped her with. You wouldn't want to eat anything you caught in the waters where I grew up.

At some point several of the children were in the pond playing shark. You can see who took on the role of Jaws.      

Go Fish

We are in Seward, on the coast. In the early evening boats for visiting fishermen and women return to harbor and unload the day's catch. The crews clean and fillet it on the spot. It's flash frozen, vacuum sealed and shipped anywhere. We met a man from Arkansas who told us he had been to Seward more than 20 times. At the end of each visit, he ships home 50 pounds of salmon and 50 pounds of halibut.

I took about a zillion pictures of this process. There are lots more good ones I could edit in my spare time. Havent even started on the pix I took earlier Saturday in Seward (anyone want to see puffins?) or the long boat trip we took Sunday down Resurrection Bay and into the Gulf of Alaska, where we saw a glacier that empties right into the ocean, seals, whales and a pod of orcas. No rest on our holidays.