A Life Well Cast

In 1954, my father made a decision that would shape everything — he moved our family to Lake Stevens, Washington, after finding a five-acre parcel and building our home with his own hands. What followed was something I can only describe as a boyhood worth living.

I watched a small farm take shape around us. Chickens, beef cattle, the occasional horse, ducks, and even a peacock wandered our property. A vegetable garden fed us through the seasons, and fruits and berries grew wild throughout the neighborhood. Forested land stretched out in every direction, and a creek ran nearby — all the ingredients for a true country life. From those animals, we learned something no classroom could teach: the honest, unvarnished cycle of life and death.

My father and grandfather were my first and finest teachers. Through carpentry, motorized vehicles, and a general mechanical aptitude that seemed to come naturally to both of them, they showed me that creativity, opportunity, and consistency could conquer just about any situation. But my best memories aren't found in a workshop — they're out on the trails. We'd load up and go trailer camping, then tear through logging roads and climb toward the higher lakes on Tote Goats and Honda Trail 55s and 90s. I should mention: Dad built the Tote Goats himself.

Then came the summer Dad made an announcement: we were going to build a rowboat. And just like that, one Saturday morning, the materials appeared and we got to work. I mostly observed and held the end of the tape measure, but that boat became ours. We fished the local lakes in it together for many years. Lake Cassidy was a favorite — its natural beauty was unlike anywhere else, and we knew exactly how to read its water. Lake Wenatchee and Lake Bosworth drew us back time and again as well.

Life has a way of moving forward whether you're ready or not. When a recession settled over Puget Sound in the early 1980's and a building boom was underway in Anchorage, Alaska, I recognized an opening and took it. That decision led me somewhere unexpected — to a connection with a remote fishing lodge willing to trade accommodations for carpentry skills. What unfolded from that trade became one of the greatest chapters of my life.

I was able to share that wilderness adventure with my own parents. Together, we caught Grayling, Trout, Dolly Varden, and all five species of Pacific Salmon. We watched Bear, wolves, otters, and moose move through the landscape like they owned it — because they did. It was exactly the kind of place my grandfather would have pointed us toward.

Which brings me to the best advice I ever received, passed down from Grandpa himself:

Go have an adventure. It will be the best part of your future.

He wasn't wrong.