A Taste of Poland... and Takatz!

**UPDATED**
There are a few new pictures up since you might have last seen it.

Before I get started about my quick trip to Takatz, I want to jump ahead in the day and tell you that I did a pretty monumental thing today. Monumental for ME I guess... I successfully made my first batch of pierogi BY MYSELF! I've helped my grandma out before but I've never actually MADE ALL OF IT. Even though things were a bit messy and I had some issues with the dough, I MADE EM! None of them fell apart... and I even let people try them and they said they were really good! :-D



So yesterday was my day off so I decided to take a ride down to Takatz with Grant on one of the fish transfers. I just wanted to check out the house and the area before I had to LIVE down there. The area is very pretty with a big snow-covered mountain in the background. I've been told many avalanches will be seen and heard. The house is decent too... considering it's a floathouse. The living room/kitchen are is spacious with two tiny bedrooms in the back. There IS a bathroom with a toilet and a shower. Atleast I think it's a shower... I saw a shower curtain!? Anyhow, it doesn't have hot water though so... On the way out there I saw this awesome waterfall too but since my camera decided it wasn't going to work, I couldn't get a picture of it. Dean gave me some batteries though so I got picture of stuff, but didn't find that waterfall on the way back.

I tried to put a picture on here of a map but it wasn't working. Try this link.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl&q=Takatz%20Bay

Hidden Falls is in Kasnyku Bay just north of Takatz Bay. It isn't that far really... You are going to probably have to arrow up a little on the map and then zoom in maybe if it doesn't say any names of the bays. It shows Kasnyku Lake, and Kasnyku is the bay right above that.

Anyhow, pictures.


Welcome to Takatz Bay! Gorgeous right!? It's really hard to see but if you look at the water line at the VERY LEFT of the picture, you can see the Takatz house back there.(Again, click the pic to make it larger.)


There are 16 chum pens, 8 on each side of the house. It basically makes a big H. This is the back side of the house. Those two windows are where the bedrooms are. Those doors open up to where the food is kept.


The inside of the Takatz house. The house is 2 stories but the bottom level houses all of the food.


The guys at work... transferring chum. Dean's in the orange. Adam's in the blue and green. Grant's in the background. He is the guy who runs the boat, but doesn't work at Hidden Falls.


Welcome to saltwater Little Chum! This is the best I could do for taking a picture of the fish. The glare on the water made it hard. It takes them a little while to adjust so some might look dead... but they'll recover.


Remember Muttley!? Well this is his brother. He is Grant's dog but from the same parents that Muttley is from. This guy is BIGGER than Muttley actually... he's got a super puffy coat and looks like a bear. Again, hard to really tell how big he is.

Well, I think Takatz will be good. I will be heading out there tomorrow actually for my 4 day stay so you won't see me online. Some of you MAYYYYY get a phone call though. :-D I'll leave you with just one more picture. I talked the other day about how gorgeous the mountain looked at Hidden Falls. Well it was an equally gorgeous day yesterday (and today!) so here's a shot heading into the bay that Hidden Falls is located in. Let's just say it was another "Oh my god, I'm in ALASKA!" days! :-D


Similar to the Takatz picture, you can see a little building and chum pens at the water level on the very left of the picture. Those are the chum pens that we moved from the other side of the bay. Those trees in the middle are on a little island but behind that is the hatchery.

SHOUT OUT OF THE DAY - Grandma Czuba... Thanks for showing me how to make pierogi! :-D