Photo Sunday-Playing with the Fishies

On Friday we headed out to the fish hatchery on the American River to watch the amazing quantities of salmon that are spawning at this time of year. And while we often visit a fish hatchery when we visit Grandma and Grandpa in Oregon, this one was humbugs in comparison. It was a bit of a different experience. Plus, I think it's the first time I've let Robbie out of his stroller to feed the fish. You can see that he thought this was the best thing since the yogurt he had earlier in the day... There were two areas with these troughs of trout and salmon, each the length of a football field. In each area there were at least twelve troughs. At one point the feeding truck came through row by row, shooting fish food into the troughs. What a scene. Between the fish leaping out of the water to get all the food and the mass quantities of children running behind the truck screaming with joy, it was pure, delightful chaos.

Then there was the extra long fish ladder. I'd seen a few fish ladders in my day, but never one this big. In this picture, we are about a third of the way up from the gate entrance on the river. What you can't see is at the top of the ladder, it makes a sharp 90 degree turn to the left and continues another considerable distance.

The kids (and their friends) could have spent a hour walking along the ladder, watching and cheering for the salmon as they made their way up stream. They were especially fascinated by the gate. Salmon packed in gate to wall, fighting for their chance to get past the gate and up the ladder. And they just seemed to keep pouring in from the river. Really amazing.While the other kids were watching the fish, Robbie spent some time enjoying the vegetation. Kooky kid.

Happy Sunday.