The Hook

For those of you who don’t know about Bob Dowling’s theory of “the hook,” I have a story to tell you, but first I must explain “the hook.” The Hook is that annoying propensity for items or body parts to get hooked inadvertently at the most inopportune moments. For example, when you’re walking through a doorway and your belt loop hooks on the doorknob causing the door to slam into your head while nearly ripping the door off the hinges… and this usually happens when you’re rushing out the door to catch a bus. In most cases you wouldn’t be able to recreate the hook, and worse even yet is that unhooking is nearly impossible and often times does damage to property and/or person.

Today, I had a perfect example of the hook. Remember that boat, with the motor and the oars? Well in an effort to avoid having to shove off from shore I brought it alongside the dock where I had Anna and Ella step in from the dock. I was to then “effortlessly” step onto the boat, shove off, start the motor and putter away into bliss. However, the hook foiled this plan. As I stepped onto the boat with my right leg the oar somehow slid up my shorts and became firmly hooked within my shorts… just as this happened the boat started drifting away from the dock increasing the distance between my legs. All I needed to do was push my right leg forward so that my left leg could follow, but the hooked oar in my shorts had my leg cemented to the boat floor… and as I furiously cried “hook, hook, hook” the drifting boat dragged the rest of my body into the lake, releasing the hook and allowing for a complete submersion. Totally unharmed, but completely wet I slowly rose to the surface to find a laughing wife and a daughter looking at me like I was a jackass. The hook strikes again!




Our trusted steed...

And the culprit

Heckman Lake

As I write this I am sitting on a dock overlooking Heckman Lake; it’s 9:00 PM and Ella is sound asleep in our cabin. We arrived yesterday via float plane, which was an awesome and exciting way to travel. We flew out with Southeast Aviation with a pilot who spends April-October in Ketchikan flying people around SE Alaska, and the rest of his time in Seattle. If you haven’t ever flown in a float plane, I highly suggest it… Ella loved it, Anna loved it and I loved it. We took off on very choppy water in high winds, which had me very worried about turbulence. However, as soon as we were 20 feet off the water, it was a solid flight with absolutely no turbulence. We flew NE and within 10 minutes we were over total wilderness. The town, cruise ships, and comforts of front country living were behind us. (Speaking of “front country” comforts, I should add that the guy at Southeast Aviation told us we could bring up to 1300 pounds of stuff, and I think we just about brought that much. When he saw how much we were bringing for 3 days, he looked quite shocked… we blamed it on Ella… she does have a lot of toys.) After about a 20 minute flight we landed on Heckman Lake and docked right in front of our cabin where we unloaded our stuff and watched the pilot take off. With the plane out of earshot the most striking aspect (other than the beauty of this place) was the total quiet. We spent our first night unpacking and prepping the cabin to our liking, made burritos, drank a bottle of wine, and went to bed.


Our first day brought our first challenge. The only way to get anywhere on Heckman Lake from our cabin is by boat. Therefore we rented an outboard motor, which I have no idea how to run. Fortunately our pilot could read a Gumby from a mile away and spent about 15 minutes explaining to me how to put the motor on the boat and how to start the sucker. Unfortunately though I couldn’t get the motor to start, and spent about 15 minutes pulling the cord and swearing to holy hell while the 3 of us drifted farther and farther away from the dock… thank goodness I had the foresight to bring the oars, and spent another 20 minutes trying to row us back to the dock in a rather strong head wind. Fortunately, after a rapid succession of pulls on that damn cord the motor finally turned over and we were on our way… after I crashed the boat into the dock… but that’s another story.


With the engine running we made our way up Heckman Lake to where the lake empties into a rather large creek. There is a 6 mile hike from the outlet to where it dumps into the ocean, and we planned on hiking about 2 miles down that trail to another lake. There is another cabin at that end of the lake, which was being habited by a nice couple from Seattle who flew their own plane here. We spent about a half hour chatting with them.


Now this was officially the first time I’ve ever really hiked in bear country. I’ve been places where there are some bears, but there’s a difference between these places and “bear country.” In these other places I’ve never had to carry bear spray, avoid carrying food, nor did I have to yell “HEY BEAR” every so often so as to not startle the crap out of an unsuspecting bear… which would then be insulted and attack my ass. Anna has hiked in bear country and found it both ridiculous and silly that I insisted on carrying bear spray (one for her and one for me) and yelling “HEY BEAR” every few minutes. She especially disliked the “HEY BEAR” part because I kept startling Ella and ruining the natural beauty of the place… which I have to admit was very beautiful. She in fact kept calling me a “dork” and telling me to stop yelling “HEY BEAR,” which I responded with… “tough, all my research said to carry bear spray, don’t carry food, and make sure you don’t startle a bear.” Therefore I felt validated in my “HEY BEARS.”


So, as we were ambling along I was looking at the river and was looking at muddy spots for bear prints when Anna asked me what was next to me on the trail… and lo and behold right next to my feet (in Tevas) was a steaming, fresh LARGE bear dropping. I am not joking this was a huge pile of shit, and it was fresh… so fresh it still stank. At which point Anna looked at me, and yelled “HEY BEAR!” at the top of her lungs


After that we hiked for about 2 miles and saw 4 more bear droppings, equally as fresh, along the trail. The worst of it being that we had to bushwhack through berry patches… trust me, the bears could hear “HEY BEAR” for miles around. Luckily we did not interrupt any bears along the way… well none that stuck around for us to come around the bend, and after a nice (and nerve wracking) 2 miles we turned around and headed back to our boat.
We spent the rest of the day swimming, playing with Ella, eating and drinking another bottle of wine. And, now I sit here as the last remnants of the sun fade to the west, and can hear fish rising on the lake, and am about to go to bed. Goodnight!

Getting ready to take off

Taking off over Ketchikan

Approaching Heckman Lake

Getting ready to "fish"

Trail to Jordan Lake

SE Heckman Cabin

Ferry to Ketchikan

Anna, Ella and I just spent 2 days on the ferry going up the Inside Passage to Ketchikan, which was indescribably beautiful. We meandered our way north past Vancouver Island sailing in between the Canadian mainland and mostly uninhabited islands that separated us from the open ocean. If I was a travel writer, I could do a much better job of describing this, but since I’m not you’ll have to take my word for it… this place is AMAZINGLY beautiful!


Every other time Anna and I have been on ferries we have spent our time lolling around, reading books, napping, and nibbling on cheese and crackers while drinking wine out of nalgene bottles… This trip is the complete opposite of those experiences… and there is only one reason why: Ella.
Anna said to me today “it’s official, Ella is definitely your child because she is just like you.” To which I replied, “yeah? how so?” She replied: “She has all your energy!” We have spent the last 2 days chasing Ella all around this boat. And the worst of it is that the Alaska Ferry system must have something against kids because they have designed deck railings that are just wide enough for the average 18-month old to slip through and fly through the air to the sea below. This means that Anna and I have had our hearts in our throats about 50 times as Ella has escaped from our grasp and made a run for it with the hopes of slipping through and going swimming with the whales.


Speaking of whales, we have seen about 25-30 whales throughout the day. You can see them spouting as they come to the surface for air… I tried to catch a few pics, but since I’m also not a travel photographer, you’ll probably only see water with mountains in the distance.
So back to Ella…I know I’m very biased, but Ella has a following on this ferry. I could swear half the boat knows her name…and it’s not because we’re chasing behind her exclaiming: “Ella don’t wake that man up,” “Ella, don’t touch,” “Ella, you can’t go in there” “Sorry Ella, you cannot have ANOTHER ice cream.” We’re also those annoying parents that break out in Wiggles songs just about anywhere and dance a jig while singing “skip to the loo,” or “she’ll be comin’ round the mountain when she comes.” But, also Ella is so friggan cute (biased I know), that she seems to have won some hearts on the boat. We’ll be walking around the boat and we’ll hear “oh there’s Ella… hi Ella.” Or “there goes Ella, bye Ella.” One woman told us that her husband took a photo of Ella… is that weird? She even got herself smack dab in the middle of a boyscout troop playing hacky sack… see photos. Finally on our way to bed tonight, out of nowhere came this little girl… about 6-7 years old… saying “good night Ella… good night Ella.” Yeah… she’s friggan awesome… I know!


Today we’re in Ketchikan, and I’m sorry to say that it’s the worst kind of tourist trap you could imagine. When the ferry came to dock this AM, all we could see were the beautiful hills and mountains in the distance with the inside passage meandering to the west of town. However, when we got to the heart of Ketchikan there were 3 cruise liners disembarking about a kagillion tourists from all over the world. They descended upon the town like locusts, except that locusts move fast. I know I’m guilty of this… because I too am a tourist, but why do tourists insist on stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and just stand there… and in very large numbers? The town has “pedestrian safety officers” so that we tourists don’t walk straight off the sidewalk into on-coming traffic.


But when you leave the perimeter of how far a cruise line tourist can travel in their 4 hour shore leave, this place is very beautiful. Also, this is the first time EVER that Anna and I have heard the following words: “geez, we never get this much sun… it’s usually raining this time of year.” We usually hear the opposite of that statement, so it’s quite refreshing to be in a place that’s sunny while on vacation. We’ve spent the last 2 days exploring the town and nearby coves, and taking Ella to various places where she can run in circles while we sing Wiggles songs to her.
I also had the best day of fishing in my life today. I hired a guide who took me about 5 miles out of town, and I caught about 30 salmon that were between 18-24 inches and 5-7 pounds… I swear! See pics below… If anyone still wonders why I’m moving to AK… see said pictures.
Tomorrow we hop on a float plane and head to a remote backcountry cabin on Heckman Lake for 3 days… we’ll send more pics and an entry about that trip when we return.



Waiting to load on the ferry

Our accomodations... yeah we had a window

Ella making friends

Seattle with Darren

"okay... we should be on the boat by 11:00AM so that we have plenty of time to get to Blake Island and back," so said Darren last night while planning for our long awaited sailing trip. Unfortunately for Darren, he doesn't understand that when one travels with a recently released resident and an 18-month old, time frames such as "we should be at the boat by 11:00"are rarely "hit."

Thankfully Darren is a patient man, and didn't even flinch when Ella and Anna rolled out of bed at 10:00 (time we were supposed to leave), and his patience stayed strong through a long breakfast of pancakes, fresh fruit, coffee, sausage, and fishies (for Ella). This meant that the boat didn't officially leave dock until 1:30. However, we were thankfully loaded down with beer, wine, lunch meats, bread, and fishies (for Ella). We also brought along a caseload of Wiggles videos just in case Ella wasn't as "into" sailing as we were. (Too bad we didn't bring along a caseload of batteries for the DVD player)

The first part of our trip took us through the Locks that separate Lake Union and Puget Sound...

Waiting for the boats to go in the Locks

Waiting to go...

Leaving the Locks

After the Locks we proceeded into Puget sound and headed south towards Blake Island... Rainier was in the distance, downtown Seattle to the east, and a great wind pushing us towards our destination.

Seattle in the distance

Rainier

Ella helping with the sailing

It took us about 3 hours to get to Blake Island, where we ate lunch and explored the island for about an hour... Below are some pics of how Darren and i spent our time "exploring" the island:

While Ella and Anna enjoyed the view:

We left Blake Island around 6:00 with Darren making this prediction: "With the wind behind us, we'll make much better time..." Unfortunately... it didn't work out that well, so we had to entertain ourselves with libations and Wiggles:

... and didn't get in until sunset:

Thankfully Darren is a great captain and we made it through the locks unscathed (at night), but we were treated to a "show" of a speedboat dude getting sideways in the Lock and ramming his boat into the side of the Lock... poor guy!

Also, at about 8:00 while we were sailing (with motor... Darren's "tailwind" didn't work out) towards the Locks, Anna from down below with Ella could be heard saying "I really want Indian food." Unfortunately we were all very hungry, and this statement left the 3 of us longing for Samosas, Tandori Chicken, and Naan for the last 2 hours of our trip.

We made it back to the dock by 10:00, and I have to admit that Ella did an outstanding job on her first sailing excursion... 9 hours on a small boat with an oversized life jacket, no where to run, and no batteries in the DVD player could have been a nightmare, but she seemed to be having a great time.

Thanks to Darren for all his captaining and being our Seattle tour guide

Pic

I just couldn't resist adding this pic... they are just so friggan cute!

Sunriver

Hello all-

Anna, Ella and I finished our MI trip with a relaxing day with Jan and Don. Janice and Anna got their hair done at the local salon where they heard the latest local gossip. Don and a couple of his buddies and I hit baseballs in the local park, which was an awesome trip down memory lane for me.

After MI, Anna and I spent a week in Sunriver with the Dowling Clan. If you can imagine how much energy I have, imagine 13 Dowlings in one place... it was controlled chaos for 7 days. Sunriver is an awesome place... it has just about everything one could ever need in a vacation. We hiked, fished, golfed, rode bikes, swam, rode horses and ate and drank enough food and liquor for a small army. It was a great family vacation. We also celebrated my dad's 70th birthday (a couple months early). The family, with Michael as executive producer and director, put together a book of "Bobisms" which is a collection of the wisdom and teachings my dad has shared with us over the years. We truly owe this fabulous week to Juanita's hard work organizing the vacation and dad's b-day dinner... thanks mommo! :)

Again, in our infinite wisdom, Anna and I planned on going from Bend to Olympic National Park... A- "how long will it take us to get there Matt?" M- "Oh about 7 hours..." yeah right. We planned on leaving Bend at 6:00AM, but left a tad bit later (11:00), and rolled into Portland around 3:00. Our plan was to stop for food and then keep rolling on to ONP. However, it was one of those magical Portland days, there was a festival in a local park and the weather was great (Anna's quote of the day... "why are we leaving this town?!") Also, when I called the lodge in ONP they told us we had another 5 hours to go... so we ended up staying in Portland for another night... thanks to Eric and Laura for letting us crash in their pad. Sorry to our local PDX pals... Anna and I were just too exhausted from Sunriver to do anything social so we ended up laying low... Jim, it was great running into you at Ristretto. Eric and Laura - we put the house back the way we found it so you'll never even know we were there.

We're now at Darren's in Seattle where we'll spend the next few days relaxing and making final preps for our trip up north... we officially leave for AK on July 24th when we board the ferry for Ketchikan...

More to come...

Matt, Anna and Ella

PS - I was officially offered a job at the Anchorage VA... I will be the OEF/OIF Program Manager... it's a pretty awesome job ;)

Ella and Nona

Ella and Anna kicking it on the porch

Devan flying thru the air

The dudes about to go fishing

After a great day of fishing

The kids at Baba's b-day

Joby reading Baba's Bobism... Diane enjoying

Gia....

Book of Bobisms

Big time small town parade

So Anna, Ella and I finally made it out of Portland and here to Michigan (through Batswana) to visit Anna's family... why else would one go to Michigan?

Due to the fact that you cannot fly directly to anywhere from Portland we had to go to Seattle, then Minneapolis and finally to Grand Rapids. If it wasn't for a bouncy ball that Ella chased through all 3 airports, we may not have made it in one piece. At the airport we were lovingly welcomed by Janice and Don with this quote "we've got good news and bad news... the good news is that Gema (imagine a small dog on meth) will be at doggy boot camp for another week, and the bad news is that Leah's entire family is currently at home puking their guts out." Now remember Ella and Anna had JUST recovered from the friggan swine flu about 24 hours ago, and now we're about to go to an enclosed space with 2 sick adults and 4 puking kids... imagine a petrie dish on meth... i'd have taken the dog! Thankfully due to dilligent handwashing and isolation precautions Ella and I escaped unscathed, and Anna just got a mild case.

We had a great time at Janice and Don's place... Ella loved playing with her cousins. She is currently on day 212 of her hunger strike, but continues to have amazing energy and perserverance. After the puke bug ran it's course we were able to go to the Binder Park Zoo, which if you haven't been I highly recommend it. I'm not usually into zoos, but this one was pretty cool. There was a snow leopard, a cheetah, emus, roaming peacocks, kangaroos... and best of all you could feed the giraffs. (See pics).

4th of July brought the big time small town parade in the village of Richland MI. The Lion Club hosted a chicken BBQ and the Presbyterian Ladies (that is a direct quote) had their annual pie tent... $9 bought you a full pie, home cooked of course... thanks ladies! Anna and I are kinda famous as we are related to the Statue of Liberty who closed the parade riding atop the final fire truck... again see pics.

We are now at Tom and Jeanne's where Ella has enjoyed tossing her toys off the cool balcony and watching her dada go down and pick them up.

We send our sincere sympathy to Eric Philps who was nabbed in Idaho going 35 in a 25 zone... which, as his father pointed out, was kinda slow for a go-kart racer.

Take Care

Matt and Anna and Ella