Dan the Man

My dad is finally back home from "Deadliest Catch" Alaska! Ok, not really Deadliest Catch - my mom made him promise that he'd stop fishing in the dangerous areas the moment he proposed, years and years ago. In order to keep his best catch yet (my mom, hehe), he happily obliged. 

So these days, he heads up to Southeast Alaska near Ketchikan every summer to bring in hundreds of thousands of pounds of salmon. I tell ya, fish should steer clear of this fisherman - he's a force to be reckoned with.

For the second year in a row, he made it home to celebrate his birthday! The birthday boy requested a home-cooked meal and family time, which is exactly what he got. It's always so nice to have him home :) Hope you had a wonderful birthday, Dad! Love you.

P.S. Check out the halibut he caught - not quite as big as a few years ago, but still GIANT!

Home from The Last Frontier

I just saw my Dad for the first time in almost two months! He's been fishing in Alaska, catching fish as big as this. Whenever he comes home - even as an adult - I still feel like I have that childlike rush of excitement, "DAD'S HOME!" It instantly brings a smile to my face.

Coincidently, it's his birthday today too! (It would have been my grandpa's 90th birthday today too!) Happy Birthday, Dad! As always, we're happy to have you home. LYMOA.

(Picture taken by Dad in Alaska)

Bon Voyage!

Every summer, my dad takes a trip north to the great state of Alaska. While some assume it's for sport fishing and fun, it's actually tough, scary, think 'Deadliest Catch' commercial fishing. Well, not really, it's not the super dangerous kind, but it's definitely hard work - or so I've been told. He's been doing it since before I was born, starting out fishing in the Puget Sound in high school and eventually moving up a level to Alaska. Now he has to continue fishing to support my mother's puppy habit.

When I was little, I thought he went up and caught millions of pounds of fish (one year he actually caught 1.2 million pounds!) with a pole because I didn't know any better. Now I know he actually works on a seiner which essentially means there is a big boat, huge net and skiff (or smaller boat) - the net is connected to the big and small boat and the skiff goes out and spreads the net throughout the water. Then eventually circles back to close the net and catch all of the fish! Then they are brought on the big boat and the crew "picks" the fish or sorts through all of them, getting stung by tons of jellyfish. My dad drives the skiff, so he doesn't have to worry about the jellyfish anymore. (Note: I'm not a seiner expert, but this is how I envision it.)

Tonight my dad is crashing on my couch so I can take him to the airport at the crack of dawn. My reward: He's bringing down fresh crab (caught this morning!) for dinner. Yum!

Dad with a halibut score, 300+ pounds!

This is where he bunks for 6 weeks, eek...

His boat

Great picture from the skiff

Completely unrelated: Dad and me in San Francisco. Not sure what we were going for...