Peace, Quiet and Fish!

Erik’s Post

My old boss from Flood Control in Phoenix, Amir Motamedi, was in Tahoe vacationing this week. He took time out of his vacation schedule to have lunch with me and check out my new habitat.  Amir was the person who basically gave me the big break I needed out of school.  He hired me as a hydrologist even though I had no experience and was young.  Amir was also very patient with my limited knowledge, explained things so they were easy to understand and always put the pressure of deadlines on himself and always stood up for staff.  It was nice to spend an afternoon with him catching up.  Amir has taken me to lunch numerous times over the years.  It was nice to be in a position to take him out and treat him.  It was that first job that eventually lead to the job I have today and I am forever grateful to Amir for giving me that first chance (I repaid him by only staying for 2.5 years).  Minden was settled by Basque Sheppard's and the area still has Basque roots.  One of the famous restaurants is  JT Basque Bar and now I finally had the opportunity to try it.

I had the steak sandwich.  It was probably the best sandwich I have ever had.  When I cooked at the Oaks (a casual eatery in beautiful Ogden Canyon) we made steak sandwiches. We diced steak and mixed in mushrooms, green peppers, onions, and cheese.  This sandwich was a large steak on two pieces of bread.  I raved about it all day.  Best lunch in a long time an I will be back (still getting used to the slot machines in the lobby!).

In Phoenix for 5 years every Wednesday was scouts.  I was gone from my family from 6:45-9:00.  Well – I don’t have any calling right now (and judging from the 21 Elders at church on Sunday (after you take away the two that were in nursery and one in each primary class and the 11 that were in the YM program) not to mention the mammoth high priests group, it might be through the summer until I do have a calling.  I now take Thursdays and go fly fishing after work.  It takes 1/2 hour to get someplace worth fishing then another 30 minutes to 1 hour hike and I get in about 2 hours of fishing.  I work with a guy who loves to hike, but hates to fish so he tells me of all these streams he finds and then I go and fish them.

I found maybe the most peaceful place on the planet.  The hike is a killer – straight up, but then it opens into a beautiful alpine meadow.  You would not expect fish to be in the stream – its so small but it was full (the pics are poor quality because all I had was my phone, but you get the idea).

 

Every third cast was a fish.  Not the stocked rainbow trout you usually find, but colorful native brook trout.  Brook trout are by far the smallest trout (2 inches to 6 inches), but watching them take the fly and bringing them in was fun.  I seriously caught about 30 and released them all.  None had taken the hook too far, so they are all still happy in their stream.  The one on the end was the big fish of the day.  I did not see one other person.  It was me, the stream, fish, squirrels and chipmunks and a bunch of colorful song birds.  Wonderful!

I really felt as I hiked back to the car – that is how the day is supposed to go.  Delicious lunch with a good friend, productive day at work, and time be in a peaceful location to think and decompress.  What a good day.