Salmon Spawning

Last year while my good friend Scott and Carren were visiting for the UW vs. BYU game we had the chance to go to the fish ladder and see the salmon spawn. It was incredible with fish flying about every half a second or so. I became obsessed with each jump and splash the salmon made. It just made me happy until it was pointed out to me that they were on their way to die, at which I was sad but still happy. And i vaguely remember learning about that in first grade. So yesterday Jim and I went down for a Sunday stroll to watch the salmon jump and jump they did! Jim could care less about the salmon only about my reactions. Because with each salmon that jumped I would yell out and point. I was like a kid at the candy store. However, in my defense there was someone else just as excited as me oohhing and aweing at these fine specimen, however it was just an 8-year-old girl. So what! So here are some pictures of me freaking out. Jim was trying to get an "authentic" pictures but mostly they were me pointing. :) IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN I DEMAND YOU TAKE THEM! I cannot wait to take my own children there! They will love it!






And in case you didn't know-Salmon and steelhead hatch and partially grow up in rivers and streams. Then they journey to sea where they spend most of their adult lives. Near the end of their life cycle, the few that have survived journey back from the sea to spawn in the streams where they were hatched years before. Between hatching and spawning, the returning fish must survive many hazards. In the end, less than one egg in 1,000 survive to spawn as an adult.