Confessions of a Vacationer

Halibut

I'm the type of person that is motivated by the next vacation, the next adventure in my life. I work to pay for those vacations and adventures. When actually on a vacation, I strive to do all the exciting things I can and see all the unique sites there are to see in a particular destination. I recently had a different kind of experience with a vacation. For several years now, I have spent a minimum of 1 week per year visiting my aunt and uncle in Kenai, Alaska. The fishing has spoiled me, the beauty still awes me, the adventures are enumerable, and the perspective it brings to my life is like none other I have experienced. However, it has become like a second home to me now (especially after having lived there for 4 months in 2006). I know the area and I know what options for fun and adventure there are. There's no excitement in planning for the vacation to see what all I can do, in fact, I waited until 9 o'clock the night before my early morning flight to even start packing and thinking about leaving. It just felt weird from the beginning, not necessarily like something was wrong, but just different. The flight up there and the flight back were probably two of my worst flying experiences that I've ever had, but I'll save that for it's another article.

Now to the actual vacation........................Let me just say this. I realized that if this trip had been my first trip to Alaska, I probably would have never wanted to come back. You see, originally, I was going to Alaska to go on a 4-day hike with my uncle. That was before he injured his shoulder and we ended up not being able to go. So, my trip wasn't exactly planned for the most exciting salmon run or anything else. In fact, the week I was there was between the red and silver salmon runs. But, it didn't matter. It wasn't my first trip to Alaska and I've caught plenty of salmon in my lifetime. I was in Alaska and I wasn't at work and I had nothing to do, except sleep in and go fishing with my uncle. I didn't catch anything the first two days I went fishing. Well, let me clarify.....I didn't catch anything I was fishing for. The first day I fished for pike and caught a clam (don't ask). The second day I fished for silver salmon and caught a king salmon (and had to throw it back because king season is over). The only "good" fishing day I had was slamming the halibut one day out on the most perfect day at sea. This was all awesome, but nothing I had not done several times before on previous trips.

While the week was progressing, I kept having an itch to do something I hadn't done before.....spend some extra money for that adventure I could tell to people and get excited about it. But, the more the week progressed, the more I realized that maybe I didn't need an adventure. Maybe I just need to be there, forget about all the work I had been doing, forget about the drama in my life, and just be there. The one place I can go to and feel home, but away from the rest of the world and have everything be okay. Within 2 days of being there, my perspective of life had been brought back to me. I was talking to a friend/co-worker and she actually made the comment to me about how much happier and relaxed I sounded, and I think she realized a little of what this place does for me. Now I know what it is to relax on a vacation and not feel like I wasted an opportunity.

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