Quite a busy couple of week this has been…
The end of my Friday, usually defined not by the specific hour but by the moment in which I have caught up enough to shut down the work laptops without disjointing an ongoing conversation or problem resolution, finally arrived. 12 straight days of work, including being gone over the previous weekend. Thankfully, this is far more rare now, compared to over a decade spent in Luxury Hospitality (where, I think, Tuesday was considered the “weekend” that Managers potentially could take…if they had a back-fill for themselves).
My group at work had multiple key visits to make, simultaneously, which put me on a Friday afternoon flight out.
As previously mentioned, though, this gives a good vantage point from which to scout, if one is seated on the correct side of the aircraft, and the route takes you through the area of interest. This time, a great view of a river valley that I often enjoy exploring.
A relatively brief pause in Sea-Tac (during which I discovered that one of my favorite dinner spots had been closed!) and I was in the air again and heading towards Vancouver, BC. Not a route that I often take, but a great view of the islands around Seattle, including Guemes Island, where the family and I lived for a couple of months, years ago. Great memories of our time there, to be sure.
Not a bad trip, other than being away from my family. Vancouver is a beautiful city, although the classic PNW weather was in full swing, the entire time. My presence was helpful (I think), appreciated by the client, but not overly taxing. In fact, even after extensive time spent at three different client sites, I found myself looking at the various bodies of water I crossed over or passed near, and remembering that I had not been fishing in Canada in ….
… 33 years?
Wow. How time flies. May have to fix that, at some point. I mean, what point is the passport if you don’t do something fun with it, right?
Back home dark and early Monday…a loose and elusive handful of hours of sleep…and back at the desk. Tuesday kicked off with a nice bit of sun, very little in the way of a breeze, and a bit more sleep than the night before. In other words, just right for a trip to the river.
Cutting my day off at “only 9 hours”, I opted to throw my gear in the truck and head out late in the afternoon. I arrived with Nissan telling me it was in the mid to high 70’s (the stream thermometer would later tell me the water was 63 degrees), but I found that the wind had picked up a bit. Nothing that would keep me from trying (on that day, I would have to be facing cyclonic conditions to dissuade me from getting out in the water!), but enough to force occasional pauses (flash back to the Statue of Liberty Cast idea).
I spent perhaps 2 hours wading upstream, and thankfully met a few fish while sticking with an old #10 Parachute Adams, in off-tan colors.
That fly is getting a bit…tired. Cannot wait for my vice … ummm … vise … to come back from remediation, so I can tie a few replacements. Thankfully, nothing lost on this outing, so the crafty old sneaker will return to the waters, again. Also, a great chance to take my replacement waders and boots for a test drive.
As often happens on quick trips like this, I found myself just dragging the fly from time to time, as I watched the water sliding by, the shadows of the ridge to the South of me dance and shift on the choppy surface of the water, or the occasional bird of prey drift up the canyon. Funny how a couple of hours in a place like that can erase days of stress, etc.
Great outing and a good couple of weeks. Thankful to live where we do, to have the job I do, and to be a part of this family that keeps me whole.
120 minutes to put everything back into balance. Well worth it.
Tight lines.