July 4, 2004 – A Visit from Valli
It started out as the old tradition of all meeting at the beach on Saturday, July 3rd to see the fire works and do some clamming and crabbing.
We were up at 3:00 a.m. and off by 4:00 a.m. The tides don’t change for you. Vellen and Sharon went down after swing shift and slept (or should I say, napped) on the approach. Myran, Trina, Ilene, and I arrived just about right. Vellen was already clamming. It was hard to get them but the guys did it. The girls got some too.
After clamming, we put the boat in and went for crabs. Ilene cleaned clams. The tide was running hard so six hours later, after Trina and Myran got sunburned, we quit with 19 crabs.
Zida and Matt were at the lot but left before we arrived. Omar, Lori, Nathan, and Mia were waiting for us there. Marci, Tim, Noah and Aaron were spending the weekend with Tim’s parents at Nehalem Bay.
The afternoon of the Fourth, we went to the Ocean Park, Washington, Sunday Market and parade. Vellen ended up in the parade. A lady picked him off the street to drive her PT Cruiser. An officer of the law followed him. Lights were flashing. I tried to get the officer to give him a ticket but he wouldn’t do a thing wrong.
The Wiese’s, my cousin and his family, joined us for the fire works at Long Beach, Washington. It was a zoo - a big ZOO. To start it there was this guy and gal wrestling, throwing sand in each other’s face. The fire works were going off all over for miles down and up the beach. Myran and Vellen brought a few but nothing compared to what was going off. Myran threw a bee and it landed in this girl’s crotch. Bad Myran! Then there was the rocket that fell over and went in someone’s camp. Fires - let me see - think of a log six inch in diameter, eight feet long. Now put 20 or so in a pile about five feet tall and light it and keep putting them on. They burned enough wood to keep my house hot through November.
We had our fire works in a sack. I think the girl who got the bee also got the pay back. One of their fire works went into our bag. That was when you saw a lot of people on the move. The bag was on our blanket and it didn’t take long for $75.00 to go up in smoke. If it hadn’t have been so dangerous, it would have been comical seeing everyone run around that fast. We were very fortunate no one was burned.
The main show started and it was a great show. The private ones are almost as big. On a scale of one to ten they are a three in size but made up for it in volume. As we walked back, there were two more couples throwing sand in each other’s faces. It was one of those things where you had to be there. Of course, there was the usual traffic jam.
I went for a walk on the beach and found out how they count Razor clams. They have a pump that pumps water through a two inch and five foot long pipe. There is a three foot round screen about a foot tall that they put down and pump it into. The clams float to the top. They count them and get their size. They do this five times in a row and there are about five rows fifty feet apart up the beach. They drive so far and do a random test. This is done all year long.
It was a good weekend with a lot of good eats and no stress.
* * * * * * *
Valli sent me an email and wanted to go riding for a week. I said fly out and we will ride.
I have a Univega street bike that Ray put together for me that Valli really liked. The Jekyll that I also bought from Ray was not as high on her list of bikes; it was a mountain bike.
Valli came in on the plane around 11:00 p.m. July 7th. I couldn’t talk her into a night ride. The next day we rode down to Portland, OR, hopped on to the Max train and went out to the race track to watch the practice. Then we rode over the I-5 bridge over the Columbia to Vancouver, WA to visit my daughter, Zida, and eat her food. From there we went up the Washington side with a stop at the old Kaiser shipyards where they made a ship every 72 days during the Second World War. We rode back to the Oregon side on the 205 bridge. The new overpass over Powell Boulevard is sure nice. I have almost been run over at that intersection a few times. Our round trip back home showed about 40 miles.
Day two took us out to Hood River and up the Columbia River Gorge on the old Highway. No cars are permitted on the road today; it is just for bikers and walkers. This was another 20-mile day. Valli was upset she didn’t bring her Camera. I laughed because we all know what that means - I get to ride it again. I just love this ride. There was one little rattlesnake sleeping on the side of the road. There was a store that sold great ice cream. Yes, I bought two scoops. There was a really old graveyard on this route. It might be as old as 5,000 years. I really don’t know how old it is. It is on an Island in the Columbia River where the Indians put their dead.
We planned a big fish day for the third day. We were up at 1:00 a.m. and off by 1:30 a.m. Ilene, Valli, and I drove over to pick up Myran and Trina. The truck lights didn’t work but I drove over to Myran’s anyway at 1:30 a.m. without lights. Yes, there was a policeman who pulled me over. It is only a half-mile. NO other cars - what are the odds? He was nice and didn’t give me a ticket. We piled into Myran’s pickup and off we went. The back seat is not all that big. The lights worked the next time Myran tried them. If it is not broke, don’t fix it but it leaves me wondering when it will go bad again. We arrived about an hour early.
Now where is this boat Alika? Oh yes, I am having this problem of a case of the runs. Every few minutes I have to squirt. There are no stores open so squirt here, squirt there. I am thinking I am going to have a problem on the boat if it is rough. I get lucky and it slows down. It is the best day ever out there. Sun, clouds, and no wind. Now we get to the good part - the fishing. Now there are four out of the six that have never been Albacore fishing before - Dumb as a rock, but plan to learn. They picked me to get the first fish. What an honor that is - Mister “don’t know what he is doing” getting the first fish. The Captain, Alex, tried a few places, and then put us in the bite. I caught the first fish. It was a thrill that I had never had before. These fish fight harder than any fish I have ever caught. This is how it works. The drag is set tight and the Albacore takes the bait and runs for a long way; then you take the pole out of the holder and reel it in. This is not an easy thing to do. Soon the fish is next to the boat and says, “I don’t think so,” and takes a dive for as far as it was the first time. You crank it in again and it might do this again. What a rush. We had four on at one time. Now that is just like the zoo. The Captain kept us all doing the things we were supposed to do. It went real smooth. All the fish were in the boat and we were fishing again. The hand line caught one and the polls caught 19. The biggest one was mine - about 40 pounds (I am writing this).
With my big 50 pound Albacore in the boat, we are off to look for halibut. Captain Alex is right on again. We drop three lines in and BANG three halibut about 500 feet down. I cranked and cranked but couldn’t bring her up; she would keep pulling out line. Alex cranked on it for a bit then gave it to Macho Woman, Valli, who brought it to the top. Alex gaffed it and it was in the boat - 54 inches long, the biggest one of the day. It was a lot bigger than my 60-pound Albacore. Two more passes and we had six halibut. What a day! The Alika is a great boat and with Alex as captain you too can catch 70-pound Albacore like me. This was by far the best fishing trip I have ever been on.
Valli says The ER people are having a problem with all the blood in the fish pictures that were taken on the boat. It was bloody some times all over every one and ever thing. My 80-pound albacore had a lot of blood.
We took pictures on the dock and filled coolers and bags, bought ice and were soon on our way home to fillet and clean. I like filleting and cleaning. It is part of the trip. (I usually con Ilene into it.) There is a lot more work to catching than cleaning. Right? I catch; Ilene cleans and cans. This time everyone cleaned.
The next is a day off from biking and fishing. Most of it is spent taking care of the fish. My 90-pound albacore took a long time.
Day five is a mountain bike ride from Banks, OR to Vernonia, OR for lunch - about a 40-mile ride. It is a Rails to Trails ride. It is fun to ride with a canopy of trees over you and a lot of history along the way. Vernonia had the biggest sawmill in the world in the 1950’s.
Day six - Up to Estacada, OR for a short 12-mile ride - no cars on the old road. You ride along the river and see all the fish going to spawn behind the dams. We stopped at the store and had ice cream and then back home. It is sad. My biker friend, Valli, is leaving, but the good news is she has to come back and this time she will bring her camera with her on the rides. I know the fishing trip will be on. Maybe she will catch a 100-pound Albacore.
The following weekend I went up on the Clackamas River to Prometory Park, OR and jet skied. I took my fishing pool. What a hoot. Trout are hard to keep on a jet ski. You get them in the side pockets and then they get off the hook and swim away. A net would have helped. It is a little ski and if you lean you go for a swim. Vellen and Sharon were there. Vellen and I brought back the 14-foot car top. The trout just don’t fight like the 110-pound albacore.
Oh Oh This is a good one. There is this guy with this three seater big Jet Ski - big enough to pull a water skier. We wanted to know how fast Vellen’s Wave Blaster would go so we asked him to clock it and it went 50 miles an hour. This guy thought he was a hot shot so he asked Vellen if he could show him some stunts on his Blaster. Vellen said, “ yes,” so they traded. He tried to get on and he tried and tried about five times and finally he made it. He road about a 100 yards and bit it. He tried again but was just too tired to make it on. Vellen and I were having a hard time keeping a straight face. We just had a great laugh after we were out of sight. I have ridden it and it is hard to do.
Sunday Myran and Vellen jet skied and I took the boat out. The big 10 inchers were not biting so I was in the boat and only caught one big enough to keep.
What a full two weeks - Lots of fun and great friends.
Byran, enjoying his retirement.
It started out as the old tradition of all meeting at the beach on Saturday, July 3rd to see the fire works and do some clamming and crabbing.
We were up at 3:00 a.m. and off by 4:00 a.m. The tides don’t change for you. Vellen and Sharon went down after swing shift and slept (or should I say, napped) on the approach. Myran, Trina, Ilene, and I arrived just about right. Vellen was already clamming. It was hard to get them but the guys did it. The girls got some too.
After clamming, we put the boat in and went for crabs. Ilene cleaned clams. The tide was running hard so six hours later, after Trina and Myran got sunburned, we quit with 19 crabs.
Zida and Matt were at the lot but left before we arrived. Omar, Lori, Nathan, and Mia were waiting for us there. Marci, Tim, Noah and Aaron were spending the weekend with Tim’s parents at Nehalem Bay.
The afternoon of the Fourth, we went to the Ocean Park, Washington, Sunday Market and parade. Vellen ended up in the parade. A lady picked him off the street to drive her PT Cruiser. An officer of the law followed him. Lights were flashing. I tried to get the officer to give him a ticket but he wouldn’t do a thing wrong.
The Wiese’s, my cousin and his family, joined us for the fire works at Long Beach, Washington. It was a zoo - a big ZOO. To start it there was this guy and gal wrestling, throwing sand in each other’s face. The fire works were going off all over for miles down and up the beach. Myran and Vellen brought a few but nothing compared to what was going off. Myran threw a bee and it landed in this girl’s crotch. Bad Myran! Then there was the rocket that fell over and went in someone’s camp. Fires - let me see - think of a log six inch in diameter, eight feet long. Now put 20 or so in a pile about five feet tall and light it and keep putting them on. They burned enough wood to keep my house hot through November.
We had our fire works in a sack. I think the girl who got the bee also got the pay back. One of their fire works went into our bag. That was when you saw a lot of people on the move. The bag was on our blanket and it didn’t take long for $75.00 to go up in smoke. If it hadn’t have been so dangerous, it would have been comical seeing everyone run around that fast. We were very fortunate no one was burned.
The main show started and it was a great show. The private ones are almost as big. On a scale of one to ten they are a three in size but made up for it in volume. As we walked back, there were two more couples throwing sand in each other’s faces. It was one of those things where you had to be there. Of course, there was the usual traffic jam.
I went for a walk on the beach and found out how they count Razor clams. They have a pump that pumps water through a two inch and five foot long pipe. There is a three foot round screen about a foot tall that they put down and pump it into. The clams float to the top. They count them and get their size. They do this five times in a row and there are about five rows fifty feet apart up the beach. They drive so far and do a random test. This is done all year long.
It was a good weekend with a lot of good eats and no stress.
* * * * * * *
Valli sent me an email and wanted to go riding for a week. I said fly out and we will ride.
I have a Univega street bike that Ray put together for me that Valli really liked. The Jekyll that I also bought from Ray was not as high on her list of bikes; it was a mountain bike.
Valli came in on the plane around 11:00 p.m. July 7th. I couldn’t talk her into a night ride. The next day we rode down to Portland, OR, hopped on to the Max train and went out to the race track to watch the practice. Then we rode over the I-5 bridge over the Columbia to Vancouver, WA to visit my daughter, Zida, and eat her food. From there we went up the Washington side with a stop at the old Kaiser shipyards where they made a ship every 72 days during the Second World War. We rode back to the Oregon side on the 205 bridge. The new overpass over Powell Boulevard is sure nice. I have almost been run over at that intersection a few times. Our round trip back home showed about 40 miles.
Day two took us out to Hood River and up the Columbia River Gorge on the old Highway. No cars are permitted on the road today; it is just for bikers and walkers. This was another 20-mile day. Valli was upset she didn’t bring her Camera. I laughed because we all know what that means - I get to ride it again. I just love this ride. There was one little rattlesnake sleeping on the side of the road. There was a store that sold great ice cream. Yes, I bought two scoops. There was a really old graveyard on this route. It might be as old as 5,000 years. I really don’t know how old it is. It is on an Island in the Columbia River where the Indians put their dead.
We planned a big fish day for the third day. We were up at 1:00 a.m. and off by 1:30 a.m. Ilene, Valli, and I drove over to pick up Myran and Trina. The truck lights didn’t work but I drove over to Myran’s anyway at 1:30 a.m. without lights. Yes, there was a policeman who pulled me over. It is only a half-mile. NO other cars - what are the odds? He was nice and didn’t give me a ticket. We piled into Myran’s pickup and off we went. The back seat is not all that big. The lights worked the next time Myran tried them. If it is not broke, don’t fix it but it leaves me wondering when it will go bad again. We arrived about an hour early.
Now where is this boat Alika? Oh yes, I am having this problem of a case of the runs. Every few minutes I have to squirt. There are no stores open so squirt here, squirt there. I am thinking I am going to have a problem on the boat if it is rough. I get lucky and it slows down. It is the best day ever out there. Sun, clouds, and no wind. Now we get to the good part - the fishing. Now there are four out of the six that have never been Albacore fishing before - Dumb as a rock, but plan to learn. They picked me to get the first fish. What an honor that is - Mister “don’t know what he is doing” getting the first fish. The Captain, Alex, tried a few places, and then put us in the bite. I caught the first fish. It was a thrill that I had never had before. These fish fight harder than any fish I have ever caught. This is how it works. The drag is set tight and the Albacore takes the bait and runs for a long way; then you take the pole out of the holder and reel it in. This is not an easy thing to do. Soon the fish is next to the boat and says, “I don’t think so,” and takes a dive for as far as it was the first time. You crank it in again and it might do this again. What a rush. We had four on at one time. Now that is just like the zoo. The Captain kept us all doing the things we were supposed to do. It went real smooth. All the fish were in the boat and we were fishing again. The hand line caught one and the polls caught 19. The biggest one was mine - about 40 pounds (I am writing this).
With my big 50 pound Albacore in the boat, we are off to look for halibut. Captain Alex is right on again. We drop three lines in and BANG three halibut about 500 feet down. I cranked and cranked but couldn’t bring her up; she would keep pulling out line. Alex cranked on it for a bit then gave it to Macho Woman, Valli, who brought it to the top. Alex gaffed it and it was in the boat - 54 inches long, the biggest one of the day. It was a lot bigger than my 60-pound Albacore. Two more passes and we had six halibut. What a day! The Alika is a great boat and with Alex as captain you too can catch 70-pound Albacore like me. This was by far the best fishing trip I have ever been on.
Valli says The ER people are having a problem with all the blood in the fish pictures that were taken on the boat. It was bloody some times all over every one and ever thing. My 80-pound albacore had a lot of blood.
We took pictures on the dock and filled coolers and bags, bought ice and were soon on our way home to fillet and clean. I like filleting and cleaning. It is part of the trip. (I usually con Ilene into it.) There is a lot more work to catching than cleaning. Right? I catch; Ilene cleans and cans. This time everyone cleaned.
The next is a day off from biking and fishing. Most of it is spent taking care of the fish. My 90-pound albacore took a long time.
Day five is a mountain bike ride from Banks, OR to Vernonia, OR for lunch - about a 40-mile ride. It is a Rails to Trails ride. It is fun to ride with a canopy of trees over you and a lot of history along the way. Vernonia had the biggest sawmill in the world in the 1950’s.
Day six - Up to Estacada, OR for a short 12-mile ride - no cars on the old road. You ride along the river and see all the fish going to spawn behind the dams. We stopped at the store and had ice cream and then back home. It is sad. My biker friend, Valli, is leaving, but the good news is she has to come back and this time she will bring her camera with her on the rides. I know the fishing trip will be on. Maybe she will catch a 100-pound Albacore.
The following weekend I went up on the Clackamas River to Prometory Park, OR and jet skied. I took my fishing pool. What a hoot. Trout are hard to keep on a jet ski. You get them in the side pockets and then they get off the hook and swim away. A net would have helped. It is a little ski and if you lean you go for a swim. Vellen and Sharon were there. Vellen and I brought back the 14-foot car top. The trout just don’t fight like the 110-pound albacore.
Oh Oh This is a good one. There is this guy with this three seater big Jet Ski - big enough to pull a water skier. We wanted to know how fast Vellen’s Wave Blaster would go so we asked him to clock it and it went 50 miles an hour. This guy thought he was a hot shot so he asked Vellen if he could show him some stunts on his Blaster. Vellen said, “ yes,” so they traded. He tried to get on and he tried and tried about five times and finally he made it. He road about a 100 yards and bit it. He tried again but was just too tired to make it on. Vellen and I were having a hard time keeping a straight face. We just had a great laugh after we were out of sight. I have ridden it and it is hard to do.
Sunday Myran and Vellen jet skied and I took the boat out. The big 10 inchers were not biting so I was in the boat and only caught one big enough to keep.
What a full two weeks - Lots of fun and great friends.
Byran, enjoying his retirement.
posted by Byran on the side at 8:48 AM
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