Bonneville Dam Fish Ladder

After your nap today we drove out to the Bonneville Dam to see the fish in the fish ladder.  The Columbia River is at least 1 foot over flood stage... so today we saw some raging waves coming from water being released at the dam.  Quite a sight!  When we were walking down into the fish ladder, we said "hello" to a man outside.  Once inside, we didn't see any fish in the windows.  Later we found out that the man we said 'hi' to, Mark, is a fish counter at Bonneville... And when we were inside, Mark invited us into his fish counting office where he said there is a narrow water passage-way in front of his viewing window so he can count fish as they pass by.  Because the passage is so narrow, he is able to correctly identify and size the fish.  He explained to us why the windows in his office have vertical pieces of string hanging, as well as number markings on the windows.  The vertical strings are spaced apart in certain widths to represent fish lengths and ages (for immature and mature fish) and the numbers are for quick and easy measuring.  When the fish swim by, Mark can easily identify and age the fish.  Ah ha!  Very cool.  He also showed us his special keyboard for entering fish information.  There are buttons to push for the type of fish, as well as their age/size.  That was neat!  You kept saying "go go" while I was listening to him talk... and eventually you waved and said "bye bye" to thank him.   Then you headed to the drinking fountain to get a drink all by yourself.  

 On the way back up to the above water viewing level, you explored the life jacket case and when I put you on my shoulders to get a better view of the fish ladder- you sure held on tight to my ears! (Nice new rain jacket Mommy got you at REI in Massachusetts)

 It was a fun little adventure together this afternoon!  And it's just 20 minutes or so from the house!