State: Washington Issaquah, WA Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hachery Since we took a family trip to Seattle just a couple summers ago, and the weather forecast was calling for more rain, we decided to skip town. We had originally planned to head north into Canada to see Vancouver and Lake Louise...then drop down into Glacier National Park (Montana), but with days of rain and snow/ice in the forecast for those destinations, we decided to try our luck heading east instead. We made a quick stop at the Friends of Issaquah Salmon Hachery about 30 minutes east of Seattle. I took the long way, by getting on a bridge going the wrong direction. Doh! But at least I was just driving the car and not the rv (Matt and I split up since it was raining and we had some mountain roads to drive). We hit the fish hachery at a great time of year, since the salmon were swimming upriver to spawn. From this bridge we could actually spot a few of the beat up reddish colored fish slowly trying to make their way upstream. Here is Kaylie checking out the salmon swimming up the fish ladder. In nature, the female fish would lay her eggs in a nest made in a calm spot in the creek. Then the male fish would swim over and fertilize the eggs. Both adult fish would die of old age in their sleep, holding hands in bed (oh wait, that was The Notebook). But you get the idea...they die. So what the fish hachery does is take out some of the uncertainty... they kill the female and take her eggs, and then "get" the sperm from the male (don't think I'd want that job). The two treasures are thrown into a bucket and stirred up to complete fertilization. They monitor and care for the fertilized eggs until they are big enough to release. And that's how a baby salmon is made.
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aboutI'll be sharing our travel plans, some reviews, cooking ideas (because I know you are all jealous of my easy-bake oven), and ... oh who am I kidding?! I'll be lucky to get our photos posted! categories
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February 2016
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