The All Weather Coats: Olympia and salmon

To round out the "all things northwest" tour, we headed down to Olympia and the surrounding area today. I had read in the paper about a place where you could see the salmon making their way upstream for spawning. When I read the article, my mind created a scene probably similar to one in a National Geographic special. You know: healthy, vibrant salmon jumping up raging rivers only to be caught be a bear lingering on the shore? Well, that wasn't exactly what we found...

One thing those National Geographic specials don't clue you in to is the smell, no stench, of the area. Think about it, there are a lot of fish that don't make it up that stream but die trying. And then there are the ones that made it, layed their eggs and lay around - dying. Well, my friends, that's a stinky situation.

And it wasn't exactly a raging river, but a running stream. So those rather large fish are sticking half out of the water trying so, so hard to wriggle their way up to where they were born. It was a very admirable thing. And those poor fish were working way harder than most people do to accomplish their goal. Go salmon!

So it wasn't exactly the picturesque scene from my mind, but it was a really interesting trip to learn more about the wonders of nature.

Cool trees, huh? (And girls too)

Those lumps are the salmon working their way upstream.

Go salmon, go!

After our nature lesson, we drove back into Olympia for lunch and a look around. This was the first time we had visited Olympia and I have to say, for a capitol city, it was really small! But quaint, in a good way.

My artsy photo of Emmy

Olympia waterfront

Cousins!

Being goofy

The capitol building

Driving back into Gig Harbor, we stopped at the archery range so the girls could try it out. Cannon had been wanting to take his cousins here so we stopped in right before it closed. All the girls were good, but I do have to say that Hannah was a natural at it (and she even kind of looked like Katniss!)