Winter has come. The full-on busy schedule of summer flowed into the flurry of fall and now, finally we are back at our winter home, unpacked, moved back in and sittin’ close to the woodstove again at night, reminiscing on our first season of running our own rafting and fishing service.
Without going into the dizzying details of all we tried to take on this summer I’ll just say that our cup runneth over and now that we are a little more removed from a packed schedule what we feel is THANKFUL. We were able to do what we set out to do; pay for all the gear we had purchased, fix up our new property to better accommodate our business and future home, Greg got to spend a lot of time on the rivers and most importantly, we made happy clients and sent them home with fish!
We enjoyed scenic floats on the Copper River, King Salmon fishing on the Klutina River, Kings and Reds on the Gulkana, family fishing trips and scenic floats, and (my personal favorite) little ones discovering rafting and fishing for themselves.
The first year of a business has got to be the toughest. Working out how we wanted to operate, affording gear and then getting out the kinks was both challenging and rewarding. Our place of business was under construction (well, destruction really…) and our carpenter was also our guide! How to run a shuttle at 6 a.m. with two sleeping babies, how much water is enough for 5 guys in a freakishly hot Alaskan summer and where the monster King Salmon were are all things among many others we were tasked with figuring out.
Thank goodness for the respite of winter and shorter days to have a little time to re-group. Not yet December and anticipation is building for next summer. In the meantime we’re brainstorming ideas for next season and looking ahead to new skies!
Thank you to all the clients that helped make this summer’s dream a reality for us! We appreciate each one of you!
