Back to Alaska!

[Dave N]

The wife and I are making another return trip to Alaska. Heading up this Saturday for about a week and a half. NOPE, no weapons going along. We do have a fishing charter booked for our anniversary. Planning on looking at a few houses for a future retirement home and visiting with some friends of ours for a while. Can't wait to get back up there! Hopefully we'll have some nice Halibut cheeks to cook up for our anniversary dinner. A couple nice moose steaks to go along with the fish would be nice, but no hunting for me! Maybe a couple rib-eyes from the store. We'll get home a few days before our archery deer opener, so I'll have THAT to look forward to! Will be nice to check out the weather this time of year up there, we've always gone up late spring except for the trip for the Iditarod. I'll be checking in now and then up there. Maybe we'll find a place that we can't live without! :hump: Wish me luck!

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

have a safe trip , jealous, grew up there, wish i could live there again , its not in the cards for right now, got to go up there last summer for a nice vacation , Alaska will always hold a special place in my heart as well

 

[Sawtooth]

Have a great trip Dave. Take lots of pics of the trip and post them up. Catch a big one.

 

[JohnCushman]

An Alaska fishing trip is totally on my bucket list. I'll have to find somewhere we can drive to because I won't fly since coming home from Iraq and my wife won't even hardly look at a plane.

 

[devon deer]

Good luck and have a great time you two, happy anniversary.
Cheers
Richard

 

[fulldraw]

Hope you have a great Alaskan vacation, catch some big halibut and find that special house up there.

 

[dcopas78]

I had a chance to work in Fairbanks when I was with an environmental firm out of college called Earth Tech. They had a contract for the DoD to clear out unexploded ordinance, mostly from WW2, from one of the military grounds up there. I didn't go, partly because I won't fly...yeah I'm a chicken...but mainly because I was engaged and I wasn't going to see my future wife for nearly a year. Her and I will make it up there at some point in our lives but I'll probably be like Cushman and have to drive! It took my high school Spanish teacher a solid month one summer to do the trip from Ohio with his family. But then again, that ain't a bad way to spend a month. Have fun on your trip and hope you can find your dream retirement property!

 

[Dave N]

Made it to Alaska just fine. Got to our first stop and stocked up on groceries. Leaves are changing colors and there is a little snow on some of the peaks. Meeting with a "celebrity" tomorrow. Then it's off to look for a house. Time to crap out for the night. Damn time change!

 

[Dave N]

Found one! Meeting with an agent Wednesday morning to look inside. Still haven't met the "TV celebrity" we're staying with. Leaving here tomorrow and moving down the road a bit.

 

[Dave N]

Well, that was a treat! Just got back from a trip with Marty Raney to where he's building a new house in a beautiful spot. Took the cable car over the river back and forth then spent about an hour getting the grand tour. Heck of a nice guy! Leaving his place today and moving down the road a bit. Going to ride up the Glenn Highway a ways and check out the colors. May even spot a critter somewhere. Meeting with the real estate gal tomorrow to check out the house we found a bit closer. Already have some plans for the property!

Looks like we're going to need our rain gear for fishing this Saturday. Oh well.

 

[Bill Zent]

We are waiting for..............The rest of the story.

 

[Dave N]

Ok I'll catch up a bit. Decent house, nice log cabin included as well as a 2 story heated garage. Multiple outbuildings and solar power with diesel generator backup. 5 acres that backs up to state land! The whole package is just what we're looking for.

Off to Homer today and we're supposed to be fishing tomorrow. Forecast calling for rain and 30 to 40 winds. May be going on Sunday instead! Time to see what this place has for breakfast.

 

[Dave N]

Just wrapped up our anniversary dinner of bacon wrapped filet, shrimp and halibut cheeks. Ended up with 4 kings, 3 halibut and a nice cod. Wife caught the big fish for the day, a nice 15 pound or better white king. Pretty damn sore and tired. Spent about 10 hours on the water. Time to crap out for the night. Have tomorrow off with NO plans before we pick up our fish Monday and head back north.

 

[Dave N]

Well crap! Made it home Wednesday around noon after no sleep on our return flight. Went to put our fish into the freezer and opened up the box. When I separated the packages I came up short! Hmm... I laid out the packages and did my figuring and we came home without 9 halibut fillets. Been on the phone with the charter outfit as well as the processor. Processor is going to compare weights from the parties on our boat and see what makes sense. Doubt I'll hear a whole lot that I'll want to hear...

Good news is the house we found is still on the market. The offer put in on it was turned down due to not having the financing squared away. We're working on our "preapproval" stuff to get our offer put in. Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork...

 

[Sawtooth]

Sorry to hear about your halibut mishap. Hope your offer gets approved. Sounds like you had a fun and successful trip.

 

[Dave N]

Well, we got all of our papers squared away and last night we got an offer put in on the house. Now we wait for the next step!

After some calls back and forth with the charter and the owner of the processing place, it was clear that there was no way to figure out what happened to our fish. The processor said that he DID have some Halibut that people had more or less abandoned that was taking up freezer space. If I wanted to pay for shipping a box he would fill it up with fish and send it. I thought about it for a minute as spending MORE money, but then decided we would have a LOT more fish for just a little money. So, I had him send me a 20 pound box of fish. It may not be the ones WE caught, but it still tastes the same!

 

[JLDemo]

At least you got some fish out of the deal, good luck on your house and better luck on making the move! I've moved long distance before (Wyo to Italy back to Wyo) over the span of a few years, not fun but love the adventure.

 

[Dave N]

Our offer was met with a counter offer and we accepted. Inspection getting done Tuesday and then an appraisal to follow. If there aren't any problems with anything we should be Alaska homeowners in about a month! Already planning the first trip back at Christmas.

 

[fulldraw]

Congrats on your Alaskan house. I am jealous.

 

[p_ham]

I am excited for you! I tried talking my wife into moving up there a few years ago. She wasnt having it. I seriously thought about going anyways!