I am a commercial salmon fisherman. So that means I work all winter and fish all summer. That means I don’t really get a break. Prepandemic, my breaks were work trips. A paid trip out to Anchorage is the closest thing I had to a vacation until I went on a real one in 2019 to Cabo San Lucas. Now that was a good time. It was the first time I had ever been out of the country. The first time Darren had been out of state! We went with three of our friends for only 4 short days. It was the time of our life. We went snorkeling, had a catamaran boat ride, watched a show at our resort, bought Cuban cigars, and on the last day partied at Cabo Wabo, giggling marlin, Mango Deck, the Tiki bar, and ended at Squid Roe. We did all the partying on the last day and flew back to the US with a real fancy hangover. Worth it. By the way, coming back to the US after being on vacation is like coming back to hell after spending time in heaven. One minute you’re in happy Cabo with all the smiling people and good vibes. Then you get back to miserable US with scowling faces and cranky bitches. I was like omg, take me back. I still feel that way and I cannot wait to go back to Mexico. Someday.
Anyways. This summer, our fishing season has been less than mediocre. It has been, for lack of another description, SHITTY. Our fishery in Nelson Lagoon has been being depleted for about 20 years. We fight with the board of fish and outside fishermen all the time. It’s exhausting. I will write another post about that on its own cus I don’t want to get into it right now. The fishing has been so bad this “slack season” (slack season is the time between the sockeye salmon run and the coho salmon run). We usually keep fishing and at least make a set a day while we’re open, but it has not been worth it. Darren and I have taken the last two weeks off from fishing and it has been so much fun! I kept saying the last two weeks “I’m on vacation.” And that’s exactly how it’s been feeling.
We have been hunting, gathering, and subsisting the last two weeks. First we had to gather alder for our smokehouse. We are smoking fish for the first time ever this year because we finally have our own smokehouse. I was busy picking strawberries and checking for salmon berries every time we take a ride down the coast. My mom and Darren picked a bunch of mossberries and mom is taking some out to my Nana, who lives in ANC. We have 20 fish in the freezer for the smokehouse. That will be 2 loads of smokefish, we’re going to get more fish, but that’s what we have so far. We were also fortunate enough to see an itxayax (caribou) and Darren got it with a perfect liver shot. No meat damaged (besides that piece of liver). That experience is so rewarding. You get to look at this beautiful animal and they look back at you and you can just feel it in your body when they’re giving themselves up. Darren got his .223 out, no scope, and just like that he got us food for our freezer. That’s one of the sexiest things a man can do in my opinion. He’s out in the tundra gutting a cherished piece of meat with his bare hands. WOOOO my husband is a hottie.
Okay, okay, moving on. These past two weeks have been so refreshing. I feel like I’ve been on vacay except I didn’t have to leave home and risk getting COVID. Not only that, but we got so much done for our winter food supplies. Even though we were mostly working on gathering food for the winter, it felt like a vacation. It is such a great feeling to pick berries from your land that naturally produces delicious, healthy and sweet fruits that you get to put away for your smoothies, jams, pies, and so on. To use your bare hands to provide meat for your family, hanging it, packaging it, putting it away. Finding alder wood, cutting it, skinning it, and letting it dry. Putting fresh fish away for your first smokehouse. It’s all a labor of love. These are things that we love to do. This is the kind of stuff we live for out here. Not only did we get all that “work” done, we had a blast while doing it. Half of my family was with us, my parents, my aunts and uncles and a couple of our friends. Darren’s sister and her boyfriend. Doing these activities with our family makes it that much better. We’d get done berry picking, head out to the sea beach and start a bonfire. We had a cookout two days ago and grilled out on the beach along with a bonfire. We brought our dogs with us yesterday while we got more fish for the smokehouse/freezer with the family. Everybody was laughing and visiting and having such a good time. That’s what I’d call a vacation. Or like my cousin said, a “staycation.” I’m very thankful for what we were able to do in the last 14 days and I’m excited for what the rest of this summer has to offer for us.
