Western Trout

I've had a rare and wonderful opportunity in the past week to fish for trout in two different regions of the western United States.  For a guy who doesn't get much time on the water, this was quite a treat.

First up was central Idaho. A friend from an online fly fishing group I've been a part of for quite a few years invited us to his property along Loving Creek, a spring creek tributary to Silver Creek, near Picabo, Idaho.  (And yes, Picabo is pronounced as if you were saying it to an infant.)  Steve has been taunting the group with photos of the landscape of his ranch and of trout from his stream, so I combined a trip to visit family in Seattle with three days of Idaho fishing.

We also fished the Big Lost river in the Copper Basin area above Ketchum, rushing mountain streams with different feel (and with cutthroat trout as well as rainbow) from the spring creeks.  Fishing the spring creeks was difficult but enjoyable and rewarding, as was the companionship.

Early morning on Loving Creek

Silver Creek from above

Floating Loving Creek

Since I had gear in tow, I decided to find a trout stream near my in-law's home of Bremerton, Washington.  With a few suggestions and some web searching, I settled on the mountain reaches of the Dungeness River, whose headwaters is in the Olympic Mountains.  In many ways the Dungeness is the opposite of the wide-open Idaho spring creeks, sight lines in the verdant Olympics being limited by the giant fir and bushy alder and hemlock trees.  In Idaho, I could see the truck from a mile or more away as I hiked back to it.  In the Olympics, I couldn't see more than 30 feet ahead of us as we drove the dirt roads.  The Dungeness plunges steeply as well, with fast rapids punctuated by occasional pools.  Father-in-law Doug, a native of these parts, joined me.

I was on the water early and had little success to start with, but eventually caught a few small trout.  One large pool beckoned with its overhanging trees.  I got myself into position downstream and cast a brushy red "Humpy" fly- one that doesn't resemble any particular insect but looks buggy to hungry trout- upstream.  After a few drifts, a trout took the fly and I assumed it was yet another small one.  After a much stronger tug and a good bit of line pulled off my reel, I got the fish closer to me and saw it was quite a healthy one.  It was tricky to get a photo of it, but measured against my fly rod it was 16" long and plenty fat.  My day was made!

After a sandwich lunch, we drove further upstream to a popular trailhead where the road crosses the Dungeness.  Apparently all hikers, I had the river to myself, and again worked the plunge pools with a bushy Stimulator fly.  Here the fish were eager but not particularly large.  I took one or two brook or rainbow trout from most of the pools, none larger than 10 or 12 inches.

Dungeness River, in a hurry to get to the Pacific

Healthy rainbow trout

It was a great day!  And I feel fortunate to have had these two opportunities to indulge my love of spending time in the great outdoors.

Summer visit to Washington

We had a lovely summer visit to the Pacific Northwest.

It is a long flight from Cleveland to Seattle, but we are fortunate that there is a non-stop to take us there directly.

It's exciting to see the water.

Grandma made several costumes for the lad.  Here is Doctor Sam.

Buzz Lightyear: To infinity... and beyond!

And the good knight, Sir Sam. Like all good knights, he wears jammies under his armor.

We got out in the kayaks- such a peaceful way to travel on the water!

We had a day adventure to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.  We took the long route via ferry to Vashon Island, then another ferry to Point Defiance.  Boys love boats.  The touch pool at the aquarium was fascinating.

Fun in the pedal go kart on the driveway.

Picking apples with the help of Grandpa's tractor.

Hard work deserves a treat.

Bill and Kim had some grown-up time in Seattle.  One fun adventure was learning how to blow glass.

A day trip to Mount Rainier National Park, where Kim and Bill enjoyed the glorious weather with a hike among the meadows.

Beautiful scenery.  Pretty nice mountains and flowers too.

Kim and Sam visit with Kim's friend Sara and her two boys on Whidbey Island.

Learning from the expert how to perfectly roast marshmallows.

 What a fun time we had!

Campus Legacy

No, that's not Sam.  That's the humble author with his grandfather, William Searl Hoffman, in 1969.

A week or so ago, I was looking through a collection of books I have at home.  I call this particular section of the library the Hoffman Memorial Collection- books that belonged to my mother and her parents and are inscribed with their names.  Most of Mom's are from her college years.  There are several that belonged to my grandfather, and one- his copy of Don Quixote- has in pencil, below his name, "Carnegie Technical Inst".  I had a vague memory that he'd gone there for schooling.  Part of what now is Carnegie Mellon University, it was a trade school and was where he went after graduating from West Tech High School in Cleveland to learn to be a printer.

I did some Googling to see if I could find anything about his time at Carnegie Tech.  Nothing came up, but I *did* find his name in a document housed at CWRU's own digital repository, Digital Case.  Not once but three times does his name appear in commencement bulletins for Western Reserve University: in 1932 when he was awarded a certificate for teaching industrial arts, in 1936 when he earned a B.S. in education and again in 1942 when he earned a M.A. in Education- all of these while he was employed as a teacher in the Cleveland Public School system as an instructor of printing.  And all of them occurred after he became a family man.

Why his education at WRU wasn't celebrated family lore is beyond me.  My sister Jane has a memory of Grandpa's graduate degree, but nothing beyond the fact of it.

I'd always dated my family's connection with CWRU (and all of its past incarnations) with my mother's graduate education in Library Science in 1957-58.  Dad came to campus almost exactly a decade later and completed his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics in 1970.  A decade and a half after that, I arrived as an undergraduate on campus earning my B.A. in English in 1988 and M.A. in English in 1993.  But it turns out our connection goes back a further 25 years with my grandfather's education.  So not a bad set of sheepskins for one family from one university.

I just wish Grandpa had stayed with us longer:  he died at the age of 62, in 1971.

Family weekend and Halloween

We've had two busy weekends, separated by a hurricane.  Crazy!

Two weekends ago was Family Weekend at the College of Wooster.  Maggie went down Friday afternoon to stay overnight in the dorm with her big sister Anna.  The rest of us followed on Saturday afternoon.  It was rainy and cold, but we managed to time our walks between rain showers.  

Here, we even caught the halftime show at the football game: marching band, pipes and drums, and Scottish highland dancers.

In the art building, they had crayons.  Made in the shape of cows.  I kid you not.

Siblings seeing the sights.

Monday following, the remnants of hurricane Sandy swept through, amplified by a nor'easter.  The combined effect was a mess in Cleveland as with many parts east of here.  Our home was spared the worst, but with power out and wires down in much of the city, Halloween trick-or-treating was postponed to Sunday.

Our little goblin didn't seem to mind.  This year, Grandma sent TWO costumes.  Here's Black Bart.

And for going out on a cold and rainy evening, the Fireman outfit was just the ticket!

Ship Ahoy! in NYC

We recently had the great opportunity to spend a weekend in New York City for the commissioning of the U.S.S. Michael Murphy, a brand new Navy destroyer.  Kim's brother-in-law Tom is the commanding officer of the ship, so we got a great up close experience of the ceremony and the ship itself.

But first, some sight seeing!  We enjoyed the enormous museum of natural history on the upper west side.  Here Grandma tells Sam what a good boy he is.

RAWR! Says T-Rex.  Or did Mommy say that?

Bill found his way to Carnegie Hall ("practice, practice, practice!") to get a good look at the brand-new Breguet clock in the lobby.  Mesmerizing!

Maggie, inexplicably to her dad, absolutely loved Times Square.

She and her dad visited Greenwich Village- the Strand bookshop and a campus tour of New York University.

Washington Square park on a sunny Friday afternoon.

We found a playground near the hotel for Sam and cousin Gabi to enjoy.

The main event was the commissioning ceremony.  We sat so close to the ship, it was hard to get a picture of the whole thing!

Tom gave us the official CO's tour, a fascinating look at the Navy's newest ship.

The ship's first commanding officer!

Camp Grandma

At the end of July we left the sweltering heat in Cleveland and traveled to the beautiful and delightfully cool Pacific northwest for a week at what we lovingly refer to as Camp Grandma.

Walking the beach at low tide in the morning, when the water is smooth as glass.

Sam and Dad made a rhubarb pie.  This is how they grow it on Tanda Ave., so how could we NOT whip up a pie?  (No we didn't eat the leaves!)

Each room seems to have its own collection of toys.  This take-apart truck is a favorite.

At Uncle Roger and Aunt Kathy's house, cracking fresh crab under the tutelage of Roger.

Uncle Roger spinning yarns.

We enjoyed taking the kayaks out several times.  This time Sam had a short ride with Daddy.

Maggie in the front of the tandem.

Sam had plenty of fun on the beach.  "ooooh, that's cold!"

A couple of ol' salts launching Mommy and Sam.

On a charity walk along Silverdale's lovely Clear Creek Trail. 

We had plenty of rides on Grandpa's tractor too.  Here's Sam with some Lamberg cousins.

Thanks Grandpa!

Maggie got a few turns behind the wheel.  Don't drive it into the drink!

HEY! SAMMY'S TURN!

Sam and Mom taking a spin.

The lad's an Emmons boy, sitting on the counter helping out Grandpa.

From atop the Space Needle, a beautiful view from above the Emerald City.