Fun Detroit Trip

We took a four-day weekend to drive down to Detroit to get Kayo's Japanese passport renewed. Our important mission was accomplished rather smoothly, thanks to the help of Joe's two sisters Anne and Catherine, who are much more familiar with the area. While we were in town, we went to the Detroit Institute of Art. To celebrate the day's success, we treated ourselves to the authentic sushi experience.

Saturday we ventured out to the Renaissance Fair, where we got to see lots of interesting people, or people in interesting costumes. Probably both.

The photo below was the extent of our Renaissance look.

We watched jousting, crazy fire performances, bagpipe music, etc.... The whole experience was quite overwhelming. We were very glad that we took extra days in the big city to have fun and to spend time with Joe's sisters. Only if it weren't so long a trip! 

Today, Monday, we went back to work. Back to normal. After work Joe had to pick his first batch of grapes in the backyard. As I type, he is patiently taking grapes off the stems in his chair. Lots of work before I can make jelly.

Good Day Fishing, Finally!

Good evening to everyone. It was Tuesday, my day off. We planned on going back to Apple Creek after Joe came home from work. So I got our ramen noodle & pot sticker dinner all ready by the time Joe got home. We slurped our dinner, then left for the stream.
It was a gorgeous sunny autumn day, quite a contrast to Sunday. At first Joe was being teased by a few large salmon, not being able to hook one. There, a fish was hooked on the end of my fishing line! A surprise. It was a very nice 15" brown trout. Thank you, Fish God!

After a bit of trying, Joe caught an 18" Coho salmon. Fish vs. Joe. Joe won today!

I just wanted to show how big my fish was, compared to my hand. Can't wait to taste them tomorrow... yum.

Fair Weather Fishermen We Are Not

Today, Sunday, turned out to be a chilly rainy day-off. Knowing some great fishing has happened on a wet day like this, we had to go out and find out. More precisely Kayo wants to taste some fresh salmon roe again. So Joe had to go along in the wet weather and continue on hitting all the fish holes even well after he had determined that not a single fish was going to bite. And even after Kayo hooked his ear and drew blood. Our fish god was not on our side. At least we showed that we were not fair-weather fishermen. Maybe next time it'll pay off. Maybe. 
Last Tuesday was not much better fishing. When Joe came home from work, we ate our dinner of Japanese lunch box style meal on a platter, instead of taking along to the river bank.

The stream was misty and rather pretty. We had a good feeling about fishing at first, but fish didn't cooperate. Oh well.

At the very end Kayo hooked a small rainbow trout, which swallowed a whole hook and wouldn't have survived. It became Kayo's evening snack. It's that feeling of never knowing the outcomes if you didn't go fishing and find out yourself, that keeps us heading to the stream. One more cast, one more hole. Maybe next Tuesday is going to be a better fishing day!!  

Fishing Trips

Since we realized that we only had about a month of trout season left, we've been trying to squeeze in as many fishing trips as possible. Last Tuesday we went out after five again. Joe hooked a very nice rainbow trout in the Big Hole. A definite keeper, 14 inches. I had a good feeling about this fishing trip and wanted to try other holes downstream. Then I actually caught a keeper!!  

On Saturday Joe got to go fishing with his cousin Al in the morning. Though they missed some large trout, Joe caught this beautiful 18" Coho salmon. The fall salmon run had just begun, they figured.

Joe grilled the salmon along with potatoes and veggies for dinner when I came home from work Saturday. I was so happy with fresh fish and white rice! That's the moment I know I am a Japanese, while Joe enjoys watching me eat.

Sunday we went back on the river, hoping to encounter a great salmon run like last year. Unfortunately we were in the middle of two weather systems, when fish just don't bite. We saw a few large fish move under water, but none of them came close to lures. Not even crawlers. We gave up and decided to go back on Tuesday again.  

Labor Day Weekend

A week before the Labor Day weekend, not even God had the plans for us to meet Judy's two sisters from the Dakota/Minnesota Plains. All of our travel plans came together at the last minute, and our meeting place and time... not too specific. In this tech age, we can always call each other's cell phones when lost. Except most of the wooded areas in the UP have virtually no cell reception. A very good thing we reached our meeting place, one of the picnic spots on the lakeshore, within minutes. After our picnic lunch, we went to see the scenic Lake of the Clouds, and then waded in the Lake Superior water. We realized those Dakota/Minnesota people are very similar to Yoopers, living in harmony with the wild nature in small rural areas. The only difference is that we can't see miles of open fields.

Second day, Sunday, we were just going out to the lake for some rock picking. Next thing we knew, we found ourselves up on top of the Copper Peak ski jump.

The truth is that any of these pictures could not fully capture the experience... to stand 1200 feet above Lake Superior! I was a bit, OK pretty scared when walking up the metal grated steps at the top, while Joe skipped his way up to the very, very top. The above photo is the view minus the snow that a crazy ski jumper would face before diving!

After that we went down to the lake and appreciated being on the ground.

Our wonderful Labor Day weekend trip came to an end with Sunday BBQ dinner. We were so glad to finally meet Judy's two sisters and their husbands. Needless to say, I slept all the way home with a full belly, while Joe safely drove us home.