I am starting this blog post at a river. I am admiring one of my children deftly handle a fly rod and land fish after fish. Here is my view.

We are up at the northern tip of New Hampshire, close to Canada, for the July 4th weekend. It is my annual fishing pilgrimage to an awesome river.

Sometimes one or more of my children join me. Sometimes I go alone. Either way, it is some of my favorite days of the year. Fresh air. Trout and landlocked salmon.

We’ve had some fortunate days. Landed over 30 fish one day, for example. We are enjoying fun meals together.

The child with me on this outing is very passionate about fly fishing. Can go out in all kinds of weather. Can fish all day.

In fact, she today landed 20 fish. She landed a big brook trout, a big brown trout and a huge salmon. The last one is the fish of the trip so far. I was content to watch her fish for about 11 hours.

A wonderful holiday weekend. I will remember this trip for decades to come.