Summer Adventures

Well, the summer is coming to a close, so I guess I owe you a summary of my adventures. After the trip to Denali with Erin, I returned to hot and humid east coast, Taylor's Landing, Maryland and spent much of the summer fishing on the Potomac river with my Dad and uncle. The river has only gotten better over the years, so fishing was pretty good and we all ended up catching nice Smallmouth Bass. It is quite a spectacle watching three people fly fishing out of a 17 foot bass boat, but we managed to do all right with it.








In between fishing trips this summer, I went to Asheville, N.C. with my friend Nadia to be a part of our friends, Katymae and Will’s wedding. It was a great time and a beautiful ceremony. While visiting the south, I was able to stop in a spend some time with more friends in Atlanta. Sometimes I think that Charlie Bowles is the reason that I ended up moving to Oregon for two years. He is getting married to his beautiful fiancé, Eloise, in October. I only wish that I could attend that ceremony, but I’ll be over 5000 miles away in the middle of my unit on Ecology with my 7th graders. Mozeltov Charlie and Eloise!

The next big adventure for the entire Martin family was a trip to Idaho and Montana. There were several reasons for this trip, but the main focus was visiting family, looking for potential retirement possibilities for my Mom and Dad, and of course, fishing. We started out in Ennis, MT where we spent the first night and got to spend some time on the Madison river. We also got to check out a couple of interesting properties. Visiting with family was great. My Dad has an aunt and uncle that live in Big Fork, MT who we stayed with for most of the trip. Aunt Sarah and my Mom spent time catching up, window shopping in Big Fork, and doing some baking and cooking for when the men returned from fishing. Uncle Leon and my second cousin Dwight drove us all over the northwestern region of Montana looking for trout. We found a couple on the Spotted Bear river, the Swan river, the Thompson river, and some of the small lakes around the area too. In addition, we all got to do some hiking in Glacier National Park. We also got to visit an old family friend, Ian and his wife, Christine, and their son. We did a great hike in the Jewel Basin. Mom got to spend some time with the mountain goats in the area while we hiked to the summit.

Many of you that know my faithful companion, Katja, might be asking…”Where is the dog?” While we were in Montana, Katja was spending time with my cycling friend, Beth, back at Taylors Landing, running and biking a lot. Beth and Katja became best buds during our 10 day vacation. Katja even got to go fishing with Mom, Dad, and I once. Katja and I also got to visit Kent County, Maryland and stay with my friend's Michael and Beth Brownley. Got to do a nice ride with some of the boys of Bike Work in Chestertown and got to catch up with a lot of other friends in the land of pleasant living. Mmmmm, Maryland Blue Crabs. Thanks Capt. Andy and Betsy.



All in all, we had a very relaxing and refreshing summer. I got to see a lot of family members and catch up on our busy lives. My parents aren’t moving away from Taylor’s Landing anytime soon. Katja managed to run off the day I was leaving Maryland, but I managed to find her and still get packed and make my flight on time. Crazy dog!!!

Hope you all enjoyed my summer update. Starting my 3rd year in Alaska, teaching 7th grade at Nelson Island School. I can tell it’s going to be an exciting year, so get ready for more exciting posts coming from Toksook Bay, Alaska.

Thanks for reading,
Dirk and Katja