The long and winding road

Wednesday afternoon I woke up TH (the husband) early so we could get on the road and head on down to Soldotna and go fishing.  And yeah you didn't read that wrong, it was afternoon and early for him, he works nights.  I had everything packed and all he had to do was to load up the truck and off we went!  We were hoping to see Mt. McKinley, but the weather was cloudy and rainy, so sigh no view.

Due to the mountainous and our thin population, cell phone coverage in Alaska is rather uneven.  After passing Cantwell, though there is a really long stretch of the road where there isn't coverage.  I guess it was because he knew that no one could interrupt us, TH started to talk about me, him and us.  Shocking me to the core he told me that he wanted me to transition!!  Yeah, you did read that right.  He wants me to transition to make me happy.  But is still resistant about being with me as a guy, so I'm still back to the same place on the marriage board.  Girl suit = keep hubby.  Boy suit = lose hubby.  I told him point blank that the only reason I'm not transitioning was to keep us together, and that I was tired of the 24 hour poor him channel. Yes, I know this is tough on him, no doubts about that.  But, really here I am once again pushing my needs to the bottom of the barrel.  And I'm really tired of it, my entire life has been one of giving in to others needs and ignoring my own.  If I'm going to make this sacrifice for us, then he needs to understand the depth of what it really means to me to live this way.  I'm doing better living in the girl suit, and the grief period has mostly worn away.  I do have bad days, but for the most part, life is getting back to normal.

We spent the night in Anchorage, and did some shopping the next morning before heading out for the Kenai Peninsula.  We stopped by a nice water fall for a leg stretch.

I swear you can point your camera almost anywhere in this state and get something scenic in your lens.  Now I've seen this waterfall millions of times, and while it's pretty, I do crave the new ya know.  And this time, since we weren't in a rush to get to Soldotna, we stopped by Tern Lake.  OMG!  so, so so lovely, don't you agree?          

We called the guide to find out what time we need to be at his house to leave for the boat launch.  The tides determine when we leave.  When TH told me we had to get up at 4:45 a.m. I lost feeling in my limbs for short time from the shock of getting up that early!  But, trooper that I am, I got up and started to put on the millions of layers needed to be out on the river at 50F (10C).  This is what I wore....long johns top and bottom, jeans thermal tee shirt, snow pants (yeah yeah I know) my winter parka, wool hat, winter boots, and a set of rain gear,  and believe it or not I was still cold!  That river is freaking cold that early!  I had so much gear on it was hard to climb up into the his truck!

Boat loaded, and off we went zipping thru the dark to the "hole" where he fishes for silver salmon this time of the year and when the tide is at this point.  We drop anchor, and he drops the anchor, baits the hooks and casts them into the the inky darkness of the Kenai River.  TH gets the first nibble but it gets loose, so that means the next one is mine!  Ohhh!!!  Ok so now I'm all excited and waiting.  Then just when I stop paying attention, my rod tip in the holder jerks down hard, signaling that there is a silver on the hook.  After a few minutes of a fight, I pull a beautiful 10 pound female into the boat.

We are sitting there talking and having a good time with the guide, Tim.  TH and I have been fishing with him now for around 30 years, we have watched each other kids grow up, and there was only the three of us in the boat, so there was plenty of time to chat.  And then BAM!  TH gets a massive hit on his rod, and Tim and TH start working to get the silver into the boat, when something catches the corner of my vision and I have one on too!  I pulled the rod out of the holder and went to work landing my fish.  Tim was so excited to have a double he now had two people to boss around at once!  Which is tough even for him.  Both fish were caught, they were both 15 pound males.

While Tim was cleaning the fish at the boat launch I asked him to cut the milt out because I've been told it's good eating.  He cut it out and off we went to the fish processor to have our fish cut into chucks and frozen in vacuum packs.  Then I remembered that our hotel room didn't have any place to cook.  Hmm, so back to Tim's we went to ask if I could please borrow his kitchen.  He said sure!  Gave me a pan, some oil, lit the stove for me, as his pilot light is broken, and got about halfway out of the kitchen.  He stopped and said, what did you say you were going to cook again?  When I told him milt, he came back and turned the stove off, and told me no!  Sigh.... next year we are getting a room where I can cook!

On the way home we encountered a huge back up of traffic due to road construction....now remember this is Alaska, so it's not hugely large for y'all but for us?  It was big enough to make me snap a pic!

An awesome time was had, and I really can't wait to go back next year!