Gone Fishin!!!

Yesterday was the second time I have gone fishing in the last two weeks with my friend John.

Let me preface the story by saying I have not been fishing for at least 10 or 12 years.

The first time I went fishing with John was at Spanaway Lake in Spanaway Park. I was out there for 3 hours and didn't catch ANYTHING while John had two trout. One throwback and one keeper.

Fast forward to yesterday, we started the day at American Lake trying to catch small mouth bass and then trout. The day was nice and overcast, in the 60's, with scattered showers throughout the morning. <~~~My attempt at a weather report. Guess what!!! Didn't catch anything again!!! We were out there till noon.

Being to determined to catch something that day we head off to another lake. Lake Louise in Lakewood. It's a much smaller lake, but still it was supposed to be good fishin'.

Man!!! Let me tell you, our first casts out John and I both got bites. We probably caught about a dozen of so fish that day each. Many of them were small 6-8 inch small trout. My first big keeper wound up getting off the hook while we tried to net him. By the time I had to leave, I caught 3 keepers and John had 4. John went out for about another hour or so. I'm sure he caught his limit of 5 with the amount of activity that was going on there.

My Vegas Trip Recapped ***Way Late*** Pt I

Let me say first that I am not a major "clubber". I'm not into that scene, so my trips to Vegas don't include hitting ever single hot night spot and getting drunk each night.

When I'm in Vegas, I enjoy playing at the casinos, eating at the various restaurants not found here in Washington, and visiting family.

The primary purpose of this trip relates to my cousin Gretel's visit. She shipped her car here from Hawaii so she could bring it down to Vegas. She wanted to visit us here and then her friend and her would drive the car downt to LV. That didn't work out.

What wound up happening is that Gretel, My brother Marlon and I drove the car down.

Now the trip is supposed to be a simple 20 hour drive. Nope. Not in my case, as I like to look around and take my time.

The trip started out with all of us leaving my house at about 8pm on Tuesday the 6th. We left at night for the less traffic and more peaceful night drive. I drove first and we stopped at a restaurant in Portland. It was a vietnamese restaurant, Thien Hong that has THE best Salt n Pepper Squid I have ever tasted. I have yet to find a comparable version here in Western Washington.

After that we wound up falling asleep for a couple of hours in the middle of Oregon.

About 20 miles north of the Oregon/California border, I tell my cousin to stop in 10 miles for gas. We had about 1/4 tank of gas. I told her the city was Ashford, but actually it was Ashland. She didn't stop for gas there. She kept looking for Ashland, even after going 10miles. Her excuse, she couldn't find Ashford and "we don't use miles in Hawaii".

We stop for lunch in Redding,Ca atIn and Out Burgers. You know I had to get me one at the first closest one I could find. I got me my Double Double, Animal Style.

From there we head over to Carson City, NV by way of Lake Tahoe National Park and Reno. I used to live in Carson City when I was 11-12 y/o. The city has changed quite a bit, but still had some familiarity to it. We visited my old Carson City Jr High and Marlon's Elementary School.

From there we head southward to our final destination, LAS VEGAS!!!!

I will tell you, we took a east bound highway from Bishop, CA over the California/Las Vegas border and I will never take that route ever. First off, just entering the highway, it is pitch black. After that, there are no other cars. According my GPS it is about 38 miles accross. No biggie, except that it was winding roads that are nestled between large boulders and large dips. All of these things keeps you from going above 25-30 mph.

After being in the car and on the road for over 28 hours. We made it to my Cousin Jona's house right around midnight the next day.

It was a grand adventure.

Part II Next.