First of all I want to say sorry I didn't post this yesterday - all these adventures are catching up to me and I got super tired last night and had to hit the sack. I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been helping me to add things to my list .. I have 5 empty spots left if anyone has any suggestions of things to do that I haven't done before (the cheaper and funnier the better! LOL)
Day 4 or the 30/30/30 challenge.
Catch, Cook, and Eat my own fish.
I have caught plenty of fish in my life. My dad was an avid fisherman and I often went with him as a child for "father-daughter days" and he was always fishing on our family camp-out vacations, I went fishing a lot in my teens with the boy I was dating but it was always something I liked to watch more than participate in. I have also eaten various fish in my life - tiny bites of which I hated every single one with the exception of tuna from a can but that doesn't really count. As for cooking a fish, get out! I would never! The mere thought of frying up a fish with its smelly nastiness leaves a less than pleasant taste in my mouth.
The original plan for the day was to hike on Mt Hood but Hood and I seem to be having a love hate relationship as of late. I want to love it and I want to hike or do some sort of activity (please don't say snowboarding or skiing, I have zero interest in trying either) but while the day before the weather was not good enough this day the weather was too good to waste on snow packed hills of treachery. That and I started to get a little worried about the hiking conditions with a toddler when I called and they said there was still a lot of snow and that inter-tubing might be the only option with my child.. um.. no, I have seen far too many episodes of "America's Funniest Home Videos" I know what happens on those downhill rubber death traps, I went as a child with my parents before the AFV documentary gave light to the seriousness of this activity that is alarmingly on the rise. Kids and adults alike bouncing up into the air, flipping, tumbling, smashing, pummeling all with a frozen (from the cold I assume) look of false amusement on their faces - no, I will not torture my child in that way!
So why spend the day on a stuffy cold mountain when we could go fishing!!! In a controlled fish-on guaranteed environment no less, so to
Rainbow Trout Farm we ventured. What a sweet place this farm, or park, is. Containing more than 10 different pounds varying in size and all containing rainbow trouts of different weights. We got our poles and a net and a bucket full of nasty worms and headed out to a really nice pound. I baited up my hook - which I had never done and can now say that baiting a hook is disgusting! I hoisted back my rod and cast out a nice long line to the middle of the pond and started trolling back in. A flood of memories hit me of times I went fishing with my family and friends. Within a few short moments I felt a tug and with that I jerked the pole and started reeling like crazy. FISH ON!!! I screamed in a high pitch gleeful voice that surely woke nearby bears from their long hibernation. in the surrounding woods
The first fish caught was also the largest of the day, 17''! He was big and ugly and yes I am not happy to admit this but I was not about to stick my hand in its mouth and pull out the hook, so I made Doc do it for me as I watching, pacing nervously hoping he would not hurt the poor fish in the process. Yes, I know I planned on barbecuing the fish later but that was no reason he should be hurting now. Later, when I caught a smaller fish I manned up and removed a hook, there was some crunching and cutting sounds and having had my lip pierced at one point in my life I can say with some authority that I knew the pain in that little trouts eyes far too well.
We continued to fish for the next few hours reeling in monster after monster. Not really, Doc and I each caught one 17" and 16" and three smaller 10" trouts before calling it a day. We took our catch over to a sweet little old lady who went Sarah Palin on them, bashing their heads in with a wooden club before I could shield my toddler's impressionable eyes!! After taking a pair of crafting scissors that had obviously seen better days to cut open the fish then she reached inside them with her age spot and varicose vein covered shaking old hands and rips out all the guts and lower jaw with the ease of opening a letter from an old friend. Ana watched at first in shock I think and then did something both amazing and hilarious, she started waving and saying "bye bye blurp blurp" - blurp blurp being what she calls fish for the sounds they make. The grounds of Rainbow Farm are amazing! They offer a fantastic picnic area were you can host gatherings of all kinds, each picnic site comes complete with built in BBQ to cook up the fish you caught just moments earlier. I strongly recommend the Rainbow Trout Farm to anyone with kids or looking for a fresh fish dinner without all the waiting of stream fishing.
Once home I dawned my delicate hands with two layers of latex gloves - there was no way I was touching dead fish! Alive is one thing but body cavities are a different thing all together. That, and I didn't want to smell like dead fish. I stuffed the fish with garlic, seasonings, and lemon slices and then out to the bbq they went. Not but a few minutes later they were done and we were sitting on our back porch under the sun umbrella eating the fish we caught just an hour prior. Doc walked me through taking the bones out and I after all was done I ate almost half the little bugger. It was comparable to tuna in consistency but the taste was more..... fishy.
I can say that after this experience I wont be so quickly to turn down a fish dinner in the future. I didn't adore it but I certainly didn't hate it either.
Pictures from the day. Don't miss the video about half way down.
Video of my fishing experience and Ana making her cheerleader debut.
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