Day 2 found Mike and me separating ourselves from the ladies to head south a couple of hours to try our hand at some trout fishing on the upper Kenai River and we couldn’t have asked for better weather.  The drive down is the same path that we would be taking on our trip to Homer later in the trip and I had heard of the beauty and I must say that we were definitely not disappointed.  Fortunately, thanks to my injury, Mike was driving so I had the entire trip to sit back, relax and enjoy the view and I’ve got to say that there wasn’t any place you could turn your head without being impressed with what you saw.

The company that we fished with was called Drifter’s Lodge and that was appropriate given that we basically got in the boat and aside from a biological break we drifted for 7 miles downriver with our lines in the water switching between plug and fly fishing and alternating between types of beer.  Yes, beer has now worked its way into yet another story but not quite to the level of the last one.  But what else are you supposed to do on a float trip?  After three early bites, that is pretty much what the trip turned into…a float trip.  Mike got the first bite, which resulted in an extremely delayed response in a meager attempt at setting the hook that of course failed miserably.  I believe that I got the next bite where I thought I had the hook set as I got the fish within a few feet of the boat, but he apparently was only messing with me as he jumped the hook before I could get him in.  The final bite was Mike’s and he set the hook and after a couple cranks of the reel the fish jumped high in the air and worked himself free as well.  All of this was while plug fishing and twenty minutes later when we switched to fly fishing we realized that Mike’s last fish actually got away with the hook as we realized that since Mike’s last attempt at landing a fish he had been fishing with a hookless lure.

That was pretty much it for the action from the fish and further proof why it is called catching and not fishing.  However that did not ruin our day in the slightest as it was quite the relaxing experience to get out on the river in some incredible weather, relax amongst the great scenery, drink some good beer, and watch our guide struggle with pushing the boat back into the water over many different rocks after our aforementioned break.  Apparently he had never stopped before or never stopped at that particular spot before or never with a man of my size before, I don’t remember for sure, but his feet did seem to be quite cold while working through the effort.

Based on the form-fitting life jacket, it might be a safe guess that they don’t get too many people of my size on these trips. 

Apparently the mid drift break wasn’t enough for Mike and so he had to use the facilities upon our return to the lodge before we hit the road, unfortunately for Mike the lodge wasn’t complete with building the walls to the facilities, but at least he had some reading material.

On the way back we did stop off for a pretty darn good dinner where I experienced reindeer sausage for the first time.  Side note, I sure wish reindeer sausage was available down here.  While dining Mike ran into his old foe from the night before…the damn solstice.

But after a few drinks all was forgiven between Mike and the damn solstice, especially given the view that was provided at dinner.

Some interesting sites on the drive home that I didn’t include in the montage video above are this set of carvings we got stuck behind for a length of time…

This shot of the Alaska Railway running by, which I hear is quite the trip for the views and the ability to sit back and relax…

And then finally this beauty that Mike and I got stuck behind while we were in Anchorage working our way back to our hotel…

Hard to see in the photo, but she is actually wearing a very nice high heel.