Grandpa Fry visits...

Tan Van came for a visit last weekend. I got him out on the Sound to catch a few Pinks. We were out there for a couple of hours and saw quite a few jumpers but no fish were biting, so I walked over to where Maisy and Heather were to see what they were doing. I relieved Heather of her watch and she went down to fish with her pops for a little while. I must have looked pretty silly walking around in my waders holding a baby! I got all kinds of weird looks! Heather was back after a little while and I walked down to the beach to try my luck in a different spot. I was about 100 yards away from Van and I would look in his direction every once in a while to see how he was doing (making sure he was free from tangles and not laying on the beach with a blown out knee caused by a passing freighter's wake). The third time I looked over he was bending over a log and I could not tell what he was doing, and then I saw it. It was the motion of something that I do not see on the beaches of Puget Sound very often, especially in the circles that I fish in. He was holding a stick in his hand an he was clubbing away at something. Just as I was going to yell and ask what the heck he was doing he looks up with a grin on his face. Still holding the makeshift club in his right hand, he holds up a nice little Pink salmon. I yelled back to Heather," Your dad just caught a fish! I guess we are keeping it because he just mashed it in the head with a stick!" I walked over to him and said,"Nice fish! You know we don't have a knife or any ice to put him on right?" He says,"That's alright. It will be okay!" I am fishing and looking back over my shoulder at the fish in the sun with flies starting to gather thinking,"I can't let this fish spoil. What do I have that I can clean this fish with? A tiny pair of scissors from the pocket of my waders." A few minutes and trip back down to the water to wash the blood from my hands later, we are walking back to meet up with Heather to head home. All Van says is,"Salmon for dinner!", and of course it gets a laugh from Heather.

I had a trip the next day with some clients from Boston, so Heather, Maisy, and Van all went out to the Evergreen State Fair. It sounded like they had a lot of fun and I was sorry that I missed out on it. I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Old man and the sea...


Fishing Buddy...


Trip to the fair not complete with out riding a goat!


Pretty happy after milking a cow!


Monday morning heading to breakfast...




Alki Beach boardwalk... some random monument...


The view from Alki Beach...