Welcome to another amazing & full day. I was up way early as my coughing woke me up and I tried my best to leave the rest of the family at peace. I was down stairs well before 5:30 and camped on the couch. It's all good because I was ready for coffee and "tried" to help with breakfast but was politely kicked out of the kitchen. :) After a very nice breakfast with much of the family - Morten, Line, Ronja, Hans, & Momma - we were out the door by about 10am & on our way.
Today, we are heading out to catch our dinner. We, (Morten, Hans, Momma & I), piled into the van, stopped by the farm and picked up Astrid and then made our way down to the boat to meet up with Marten. Most often, boats and ships are named after women/ladies, but in this case, Marten named this boat the Hanso. "She" is named after Hans Olav because he is the only grandson. That's pretty special stuff. The Hanso is a great boat!
At the beginning of our journey out to sea I must admit I was cold. Of course, I'm a wimp and generally prefer the heat. We motored out to a fishing spot Marten had discovered. We used the electronic map and fish finder, to get ourselves in position. After getting to our fishing "ground" we drifted a bit and between the skills of Marten & Morten, we were in place. The hooks were dropped from the first side, which was the "electric" side and then we dropped "old fashioned" side. After both sides were dropped and cranked back up a couple of times, we started started reeling in fish. Now this was Fun fishing! I gotta tell ya, I really am not much of a fisher man, but that is likely because of some less than wonderful memories as a boy. I never caught a fish at anytime when we went and well, you know me, I Cannot stay still and well, that didn't make for a very good fishing experience. Momma and Astrid did an outstanding job observing & supervising. Couldn't have done it without these wonderful ladies.
At any rate, I cranked in a couple times & got 3 or 4 total and Marten's side got quite a few more. We finished our expedition with about a dozen Coalfish or Sei fish, depending upon who you are speaking with. That was by far, my "greatest" fishing experience. Heck, if I could catch fish like that All the time, I'd be "hooked". In reality, it was likely Marten's expert "fish divining" and Morten's "skippering" that got us to the right spot at the right time.
We decided to take our fish and motor around a bit. As we were heading towards the fjords and shores, we encountered several things. As you can see, we had a following of flying rats, I mean seagulls. I think I got some pretty cool shots of the birds. I even impressed myself. We also saw a pod of small whales, how cool is that! The scenery around the coast is really beautiful. There are what Morten calls cabins dotted around the coastal areas and near the shore. Wow, those look like some pretty fancy cabins, but at the very least, What a View! There are some amazing near sheer drops into the ocean and many of the cliffs are pretty high up as well. Some areas reminded me a bit of Colorado, well, except for the water, of course. We had a great time. No doubt, this was my best time fishing, ever...
Once we're back on shore, Marten, Morten and Astrid clean the fish while Line, Hanne and company boil carrots, potatoes and the like. This meal was Outstanding! The VERY fresh fish was the Best. All the food was great and the conversation was excellent! While everyone else was cooking and slaving away, Morten and I took the veteran Volvo out for a spin. That was fun, but I got the biggest chuckle out of Morten's park job. He "claimed" the reason for the parking challenges was because he was backing in, had new gravel in this spot and he says it's Very light in the rear end, sure, sure... :)
We head back "home" for a bit of relaxing, talking and viewing of fishing pictures and videos. I also had a great talk with Ronja about her upcoming plan to take part in the EF High School Year. I know I'm excited for her! We talked about the differences between Colorado and well, everywhere else. I know that wherever Ronja gets placed, she'll have a Great year. Ronja is part of an outstanding family and I know I will do everything I can to help as well. Oh yeah, she's planning of going to Hawaii on "My" week as well. Yay!Later in the evening, Morten, Hans and I went to a "show" at the local pub. I was suitably impressed. It was Great to see, up close and personal like, in a different country that music really IS a great equalizer. The show was 2 acoustic guitar players, (electrified a touch, of course) and a pretty good drummer as well. The guys sang in English, which was a plus for me. They did mostly covers, but did a great job of it. They were into and the folks in front of the stage were enjoying it as well. There was lots of dancing and all in all a very well behaved crowd. I liked that those who had a bit too much cheer were well taken care of.
I kept thinking this could be a possible for In The Machine or Channel 27. One of these days "we" need to do a European tour and ya know, the band(s) WILL need a roadie AND photographer...hint, hint. After the show I had a chance to talk with the lead singer. Nice guy and he had the same Great attitude of the "great" musicians that I've had the pleasure of meeting and knowing over the years. He said "as long as you are passionate about what you play, the audience responds to it." Great stuff!What a day & night! Line was nice enough to pick me up and take me back home. I got a bit of medication and finally turned in by 2:30. It was a pretty awesome day, but I'm Beat and being sick is Really getting old. I spent a good part of the day & night coughing...yuck.
Anyway, Good Night to all and be ready for another jam packed day tomorrow.
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