On the Menu Tonight : Trout!

Shaver Lake, CA - I tried my hand at fishing today , an activity I haven't done in years. As a small child I tried fishing, but quickly boredom had set in and I was done. Ten years ago, while in Alaska, I went fishing twice - once for halibut, another for salmon. The halibut was part of a charter, so while I did catch two large ones, that was all I had to do...reel them in and give them to the guides. We'll call it "fishing lite". When we went fishing for salmon, both myself and the guy with me (Collin) had no idea about fishing. Once we caught one, we knew nothing about doing anything with it, so we threw the traumatized fish back (lucky salmon to be caught by two novice fisherman).

So today, a beautiful, sunny morning, brought me to the shore, intent upon not only catching a fish, but doing something with it...namely, having it become my supper. Being a novice, it was a tremendous help that I hooked up with a fellow camp host, Larry, so he could show me the ropes. Most of it I knew, but it helped having someone there that was knowledgeable.

Using "PowerBait" (something I didn't even know existed prior to visiting Karen & Gina), I landed a sizable (maybe 13"?) trout within the first 20 minutes. Little did I know that this would be it for the rest of the day. Yet this really didn't matter to me. One fish was plenty for me. The remainder of my morning was spent sitting on a rock, overlooking a beautiful lake, soaking up the sun and gazing upon the snow covered mountain peaks surrounding me. Yes, one fish was plenty.

Celebrations and Disappointments

Bakersfield, CA - Last night my night was filled with wonderful Indian cuisine, traditional Indian dancing and other wonderful sights and sounds while attending the Punjabi Cultural Day Festival. Roger's friend, Laura, had VIP tickets to attend this event and it was an incredible experience.

This morning I went for a walk with Stella to a park here in Bakersfield. It was a beautiful, sunny morning. I arrived at the park and was appalled to find the park in utter ruin. I had spent time at this park several times last week and although it was not necessarily the most beautiful park I've visited, it was still a nice, small neighborhood park. Well, after a weekend of apparent abuse, it was left in shambles. Trash everywhere. Littered throughout the park were empty wrapper, containers, plastic silverware, bags and much more. I could not find a single place in this park that did not show signs of weekend abuse. It just makes me so angry when society accepts this sort of behavior. What the hell is wrong with people?! If you are going to use the park, leave it in as good a condition, if not better, than when you arrived. It's just common courtesy and should be a universal rule of society. I'm simply amazed at the blatant disregard of the effects this has on other people. It is the epitome of selfishness.

Yesterday I celebrated life and culture, yet today I am disappointed in society. I know this is a pretty strong statement and I am aware that I am probably blowing this out of proportion, but I just find it very upsetting to come across this kind of behavior. I guess this is one of the reasons I am escaping into the wilderness for the summer.