Kenai Profile: Dan and Mary Meyer

If you've been following this blog since the beginning then you know Dan and Mary Meyer very well. We're coming up on our 1oth season of owning Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service and they have been with each of the ten seasons and sometimes even twice a season.

Dan and Mary live in Peoria, Illinois. After meeting them for the first time I could tell that Alaska was more than just a trip on their "bucket list." It started out as an anniversary, trip of a lifetime gift to themselves and quickly turned into an every year trip. Through the years not only did they fish and sightsee when they were in Alaska but they became interested in real estate. This past fall they finally pulled the trigger and bought property about a half a mile away from our cabins. So, not only have they become good friends, Jane and I can officially call them our neighbors.

One of our highlights of 2011 is pictured above. Dan is fighting the largest king salmon he's ever caught. There are no photos of him holding the fish because it was caught after the king salmon season closed and by law the fish could not be removed from the water. The smile on Dan's face was permanently etched for days. I'm glad Mary, Jane, and I were there to share in his excitement.

One thing that is real evident with these two is they love their family. From their daughters, son in laws, to their grandchildren, you can tell their very proud of them. Everyone would love to have them as grandparents and here is one of the many reasons why. When each of their grandchildren turns 1o years old, grandma and papa bring them up on their own trip to Alaska. How cool is that? Pictured above is Caroline and Alec posing proudly with their Kenai catch. Lucky for us they have more grandchildren which should keep us busy for another ten years (you're next, Ellie).

Dan is one of the most obervant fisherman that I've had in my boat. You can see him above intensely staring down the rod tips looking for a bite. He's pretty good at it. However, there's always a moment in every trip when Dan will let his guard down and be looking away and a fish will hit. "Dan, Dan....fish on!" I think he feels like he's failed because he wasn't watching the rod when the fish bit. Oh, we often catch that fish, but I think Dan feels like he let me or the boat down because he wasn't "on it". It makes me smile thinking about how many times this has happened and how bad Dan feels. Hey, Dan, it's all good.Fisherman are superstitious by nature and Mary is the queen on my boat. She has two fail safe truisms when it comes to catching fish. The first one is that fish will bite when a passing boat wake will rock our boat. Can't argue with that because we certainly have caught a bunch of fish when this has happened. I think it has to do with the the lures going side to side which entices a fish to bite. Not so sure about her second superstition and why it works. Mary is firm believer that eating a Kit Kat bar will trigger a bite. Mary is selfless person and will bring in the boat enough Kit Kat bars to make sure the entire boat will limit out. I think the key to the Kit Kat bar luck is you can only eat one when there hasn't been a bite for awhile. You just can't eat and eat them all day long. It's hard to argue with success of the Kit Kat bar and neither will my waistline:)

Dan and Mary......Jane and I feel very fortunate that you are more than just customers. We value your friendship and look forward to sharing your company.....even if you're Bear fans! See you soon.