I’m super excited. The Claycomb family hasn’t taken an official family vacation since. … I can’t remember how long. And I’m afraid to think too long on the subject or I might remember exactly how long and be embarrassed. But regardless, a vacation is about upon us.

A few months ago I wrote briefly on this trip but now that the takeoff date is nearly upon us, I can’t wait. Work, mowing the yard, if all four truck and car engines blow up and whatever else happens is nonconsequential and a very distant concern compared to what is about to happen. I’ve been saving my writing money for who knows, 8-10 years for this trip and now it is really about to really happen.

I’m taking the family to Alaska for a fishing trip! Most of my outdoor trips are pretty hardcore but for this trip I’m going to baby the girls. I’m taking them to the Waterfall Resort in Southeast Alaska which to me is the premier fishing area of Alaska. (Although I’ve never had a bad day anywhere in Alaska.)

As if taking Katy, my youngest daughter, Kolby, and my new son-in-law Joe on the trip isn’t special enough, we’re going to the same lodge that I went to on my first trip to Alaska which also was the trip that started off my writing career about 22 to 23 years ago. What could be cooler than that?

Fishing with people you love in the most special fishing spot that you love.

If you’ve never been to Alaska, you really ought to save up your pennies and go. Alaska offers a million outdoor opportunities.

Superb ocean fishing, river fishing, brown bear hunting, black bear hunting, duck hunting, moose hunting, bighorn sheep hunting and the list goes on and on and on.

You can do a do-it-yourself trip although for some trips you flat out need a guide just due to the amount of gear that some trips require. For instance on my upcoming trip, we’d have to take a boat to hit the ocean where we’ll be fishing. A boat is hard to pack on the plane.

So for sure on your first trip I’d recommend hiring a guide to learn the ropes. I’ve always had a guide other than I guess maybe once when I was working an event up at Haines and fished in the evenings on my own.

Be sure to talk to an Alaskan before you go to see what gear that they recommend. There’s bad weather down in the lower 48 and then there’s BAD Alaska weather. You hire a guide because you trust him but in life and death matters, but I don’t trust anyone with my life and will make sure that I have enough of my own gear as well.

Many times weather will move in so you can’t fly out. So, plan accordingly. Take extra medicine etc. Don’t fly up in casual clothes. Everything you pack should be Alaska proof. Every pound on the float plane is critical due to their weight restrictions. I’m not saying you have to saw the end off of your toothbrush to reduce weight, but be prudent.

The cool deal about fishing in Alaska is that you can bring back a lot of fish fillets. My first Alaska trip (to the Waterfall Resort) I got lucky and caught a big halibut so we ended up bringing back 185 pounds of fresh fillets. That’s a half pound of fish per day for all year! Don’t plan on bringing back that much but it is possible. We don’t keep anything over 90 pounds now on halibut because the meat is coarse, but who doesn’t love smoked salmon and baked halibut? And what about ling cod?

Then of course I’ve got to mix a little work with pleasure. I’m going to be taking some gear to test out.

I’m going to take some moisture wicking Browning socks, 5.11 pants, 5.11 base layers, and a plethora of Smiths Consumer Products knives to test. Even though the lodge will have rubber rain jackets and pants, I’m taking some Frogg Togg rain gear for when we spend the first day in Ketchikan and while hanging around the lodge.

Take plenty of SD cards for your camera and something to back them up on every night. It’d be a killer to lose all of your pictures. You know how it is now, if pictures don’t show up on social media, then the event never happened!

One last thing that we have to do is run to a doctor and get a prescription for patches so we don’t get seasick. It is definitely no fun trying to fish while you’re seasick.

Katy and I started packing last week. We’re ready. Now to hurry up and turn the pages on the calendar!