A Child's World of Adventure
When I was growing up, every corner of the world seemed to hold adventure. Mind you, I grew up on a 3,000 acre plot of land in the heart of Central Oregon. So, in all honesty, every corner of my world at the time WAS adventure. My older brother, Elijah, and myself spent nearly every waking moment together, fishing and exploring. We would spend our days outdoors, to avoid our homeschooling, which I don't recommend. School is important. But, we were young and full of life with a massive amount of private property that we could roam freely. So we quickly realized that as long as we were out of ear-shot from mom, we didn't have to come home until dark.
I can't quite recall how old I was the first time I held a fishing pole but I do know I was under the age of five. I swiftly fell in love with the sport. For the next four years, until we moved to the city, all I wanted to do was roam the great outdoors and catch as many rainbow trout as I could fit in our freezer! Hidden under the guise of private property, there was no one around to give us a limit on how many trout we could land each day. We would awake at sunrise every single morning, gather our gear, and grab all the snacks we could carry. Most days, we wouldn't be seen again by our parents until the snacks were gone (or we couldn't hold any more fish) but we would quickly solve whichever problem brought us home and head back out again until dark. Some days I remember catching upwards of a dozen rainbow trout in a single trip, all lined out on a string or loaded into a bucket. With miles of the Deschutes River running through our property, the two of us couldn't even put a dent in the trout population. But boy did we try! We eventually learned the art of catch-and-release, solely due to the fact that our freezer couldn't even hold another eyeball of a fish; she was packed full. We would fish one spot for a week or two, or until we felt bad for the trout in that area, and then hop back on our bikes and ride to a new location. We found an unbelievable amount of locations that would land a fish nearly every cast! Trust me when I say we adventured every day of our lives, I have the scars (and stories) to prove it.
There's nothing more that I would love in this world than to go back out to that land I grew up on and fish it once again, for old times' sake. But, unfortunately that was many years ago, and the owner of the land that I once explored endlessly has had to sell the plot so that she may retire. I wish I could go back once again and document the adventures with the tools I didn't have as a child, such as go-pros and drones, but I will never have that opportunity. However, there are many many more corners of this beautiful world that are full of beautiful lakes, rivers, and reservoirs just waiting for me to explore. I am eager to document these coming adventures and I truly hope that you, the reader, will enjoy living vicariously through my adventures and perhaps be inspired to take some of your own!
P.S.: This is somewhat of an intro into the many stories that I wish to tell on this platform and I am truly excited to reminisce about my days in the heart of Central Oregon, as well as create many more adventures that I may have the pleasure of sharing throughout the coming years. Adventure is AWESOME, and adventure is EVERYWHERE! And oh yeah, don't forget to bring the kids.
-AB