The Adventure
Oysters & King Crab:
Have you ever seen your spouse scale a fifty (50) foot rock wall? I have. Have you ever seen her or him order twenty-six (26) inch king crab legs and baseball-sized oysters? I have. Have you ever been on an Alaskan cruise and nearly missed the ship’s final departure bell because you’re just having too much damn fun drinking with your new single serve friends? We have.
The year was twenty twelve (2012). The month was July and the sunrise was occurring right around 2:14am every morning. This could only indicate one thing for a Michigander. We must be damn close to the Arctic Circle. Ketchikan, Juneau (Alaska’s Capital), Skagway, all stops on our trip north from Seattle.
When you’re on vacation with periodic excursions into the wilderness if you pick your spots you can entertain your wilder side. If you also happen to be a foodie then you’re always angling for something both adventurous and scrumptious.
Cove fishing for Atlantic salmon was an experience I’ll never forget. Regardless of the species, the fight is always better in cold water. It doesn’t get much colder than when there’s ice and snow on the banks. The concept of cold water fights is as true with ice fishing for bluegill as it is for trolling for springs browns in skinny water.
If you ever make it to Alaska there’s nothing quite like the freshness of slider-sized oysters and kielbasa-sized king crab though. A thousand people stepped off that cruise line and we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. We must have been so enamored with the experience that the idea of missing our departure never entered our mind.
We ate, we drank, we traded stories of misfortune and adventure. As we lackadaisically meandered down the dock and heard the warning bell in the far off distance we realized it was time to run. We ran, laughing at ourselves until we reached the retracting gangway. Moments before the roaring engines thrusted the ship seaward, staff who we must have made an impression on slipped the plank back out to the floating docks and we scurried aboard. Back in our cabin, bellies full, no worse for the wear, and never short on a tale or two to tell. Get into the Wild and Stay Hangry for the Outdoors my friends.
Into the wild and HangryOutdoors,
Article written by Mike Hiller
