Stare down with Lauren, I love this girl!

Le mesdames Smith

Nicky at Christmas

Christmas 2011

Nicky Christmas 2011 from Craig Given on Vimeo.

Pancakes

Let the sunshine in

Julia at the deYoung Museum sculpture garden in SF.

Glacier Flyover

Glacier near Soldotna, AK. Flyover in a sea plane. People in the background are responding to G-force as the pilot rides up and then down the Glacier.

42lbs of Fish

Between 7 of us pitching in, we are each coming home with 42lbs of fish. 24lbs of it is Halibut and the rest is pretty much evenly split between sockeye, king, silver, rock, yelloweye, and cod. I hope my friends and family like fish, Halibut especially, because I've got a lot to give away.

Pictured: the inside of the processing plant in Soldotna, AK that will smoke, freeze, ship and otherwise process the fish for us.

The One King Salmon

Thought I'd throw in a picture of the one King that was caught by our group (Ed Mcallister) on the Kenai River.

King Salmon

Spent a cold and rainy day on the Kenai River near Soldotna, AK fishing for King Salmon. Between 7 guys in 2 boats, only 1 was caught. It was about 40lbs and 4' long.

There are strict rules on fishing King. You need a special endorsement on your fishing license for starters ($30 extra). You are only allowed to catch 1 fish on rod & reel, and after that you cannot fish for anymore - not even catch & release. It's time consuming & requires a lot of luck.

Halibut

We went out of Homer, AK today fishing for Halibut. We also caught a few Yelloweye and Lingcod. Halibut put up quite a fight! My arms are sore, but the fight is all the fun. Lingcod and Yelloweye are more heavy than they are fighters.

Due to Alaskan state law, we could only keep 2 Halibut per person (per day). They are very strict in that you need a license to fish. The seasons for fishing are also short and for some species they impose rules like "no bait" to make it harder. These rules are adhered to and strictly enforced, all part of an effort to fish in a sustainable manner.

I understand now more than before why most fish in our markets is farmed (especially salmon). Commercially fishing some of these delicate areas would be devastating to these ecosystems.

Tomorrow we are going on the Kenai River for King Salmon, as the season just opened on 7/1 for that species. I'm excited for the adventure, and the opportunity to bring home some wild caught Kings (superior to farmed).

Sockeye

We've had 2 great days of fishing in Alaska so far. The first day we went out of Seward and our boat of 6 caught 140lbs of Coho Salmon, Halibut, Rock & Yelloweye. Salmon were definitely the most entertaining to fish. Coho eat whatever you put in front of them but it takes technique to set the hook, and they put up a really good fight.

Today we flew out of Soldotna,AK on a small plane to Wolverine Creek, which trickled into a beautiful glacial lake (notice the color of the lake in the photo, it's that way from glacial silt). The mouth of the creek was a slice of heaven with plenty of Sockeye Salmon, Grizzly Bears, and Bald Eagles all in a contained area. Sockeye were tricky to fish because they don't bite so you have to get lucky and hook them. Nevertheless, we managed to catch 33lbs between my brothers, my Dad, & I. The best part was flying back, where we flew up and over a glacier -absolutely amazing!!!

SFO > SEA > ANC

Heading to the Kenai Peninsula south of Anchorage, Alaska for a week of fishing and nature. This trip is special because it's a boys trip- with my Dad and brothers. It's been a while since we've all gotten together for leisure. Let the shannanigans begin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVS1UfCfxlU

Princess Lauren

Happy Bday at Disneyland!

Fun days in Tahoe

Spotlight

Lauren and the spotlight in the lobby of the SF Moma.

Spotlight from Craig Given on Vimeo.

Happy Holidays 2010

Halloween 2010

5th Annual Pumpkin Party and trick-or-treating on Belvedere Street

Throwing Stones

Lauren & Lulu
Tennessee Valley, CA
10.16.10

Nickie

Squaw with Billy

A great weekend up at Squaw. Dad came out from NY and got on ski's for the first time in 6 years! He went for 2 days and did great. On top of that, my friend Alessa came up for a day and took a 4 hour lesson and learned to ski (Alessa is in the blue pants)! I'm happy I was able to spread the joy of skiing this week.