And Then. . .

We had a trailer tire going flat so we stopped off at Les Schwab on our way to Washington State.  The nice man said it was a faulty stem and then he fixed it for free!  When the Duke thanked him he smiled and said "Enjoy your vacation!".  Wow.  There are still some really nice people out there.  He must have dogs at home :)

So off we went to Cascade Locks, Oregon to cross "The Bridge of the Gods" into Washington.  You may recall last year we had to cross this very same bridge and it is quite unnerving.

It is a Toll Bridge, so we had to stop at the booth and pay.  It costs $1 for the truck and $1 for the trailer.  And it's guaranteed to scare you as good as a Haunted House, if not better.  All for $2.  Not bad :)

Oh dear, why does that sign say Flagger Ahead?  There is not room for a Flagger on that bridge!

Oh, they closed a lane. Wait! What!!!???  They can't do that!  This is getting really dangerous.....

Hmmm..... Ya' think?????

This is the worst part.  The metal grid you drive on.  Even if you close your eyes you can still feel it and hear it.  Horrible if you are afraid of heights like my Duchess.

She almost fainted after she took the next two pictures!  Hahahaha.  We love to tease her.

Finally we got into the little town of Stevenson, Washington, and look who greeted us?  A friendly local :)

After all that excitement it was a relief to settle down at our new camp site.

A cutthroat friendly game of Domino's was first on the list of things to do.

We get to supervise all the action.  And if a piece falls to the ground we are in charge of finding it quickly.

That silly Duke is wearing his favorite shirt again :)

We had a fun time on our camping trip but the Duchess was unhappy with her camera.  She took it in to have it cleaned and was hoping that would solve the problems she was having, but it didn't.  The pictures this year just are not up to snuff.  The shutter is not working properly and the Duchess has become quite frustrated.  Oh well, I tell her not to worry about it, someday we can get it fixed proper.  But till then "what we get is what we get".  And that'll do!

Thanks for stopping by.

Kisses,

Dog Creek Trail

Down past the fish hatchery is a trail to the river. 

It's called Dog Creek Trail.  It is really beautiful.

So let's get started! 

Just follow Sir Bear and he will lead you to the trail.

Oh look, we beat him there. He's an old slow poke you know. That's cause he's just plain old.  He likes to stop and smell the roses. And the leaves. And the dirt. And the grass. And the bugs. And - - you get the picture, he stops to smell everything!

This is a very interesting storyboard. I hope you can enlarge it to read it.  The pictures I posted yesterday did not enlarge like they were supposed to. I don't know if it is a Blogger thing or what.  But you used to be able to click on them twice and make them huge. :(  Anyway, I hope you can read it.

Looks like we are on the right trail!

There were a couple of bridges to walk across and the water below was so sparkly. Somewhere I have a picture of it for you.  Hmmm. Now where did I put that picture?

We walked and we walked. We were so happy that it didn't rain. 

 It was a beautiful day.

Finally we came across a resting place. 

The bench had a dedication plaque on it.  Very touching.

Lady G and I paused a moment to pose for pictures.

And here is another storyboard. I hope you can read it!

Another bridge!  Will we ever get there? 

More of the seemingly endless trail. . .

But look!  What's that blue stuff?

We made it!  Isn't it beautiful?

Wow!  Who knew this was at the end of the trail?

Sir Bear was ready for a cool drink after all that walking.

I just wanted to cool my feet off.

It was a secret fishing hole too. We saw three fishermen and two more were coming down the trail as we left.

This tree had some cool moss hanging on it.

Back on the road to the truck.

And time to load up and go back to camp.  Bear has a ramp because he cannot get into the truck anymore.  But I like to use it too.  It's much easier than jumping up that high.

This was the last day here. 

The next day we moved on to our favorite spot in Washington....

But first we had to go see our friend Les Schwab.

Stay tuned!

Kisses,

Next Up - The Fish Hatchery

One of our camping days was spent on a self-guided tour of the fish hatchery.  They grow Salmon there. Okay, it's a bit more complicated than that but it boils down to the same thing.  They are like a fish maternity ward - sort of...

Here we are newly arrived at the visitors center. Isn't that a cute parking sign?

When you walk into the building there are informative signs and maps all over the place.  The room behind the glass windows is the "delivery room" where they actually birth those little fishes.  They say there is a difference between Steelhead and Chinook Salmon, but to me they are all just fishy critters.  I think I might like to eat one, but none were ever offered to me and I don't think the Forest Rangers would like me to help myself to a fresh catch!

I think you can read this if you enlarge it.

Hmmm..... Winter Steelhead and Spring Chinook - sounds suspiciously like squash to me!

Here is the delivery room up closer.

Here you can learn all about making baby fishes. :)  I never had any babies and when I asked the Duchess about it she said all babies are made this way! 






Here is some more stuff to read.  You can just zip right through these if you don't like fish!  

Now, finally, here I am with Lady G heading towards the holding ponds for the babies.

This is a cool thing to see.  The babies are born with the instinct to swim against the current.  Here are two little ones trying to jump into the pipe.  Can you see them?

They never did make it but they tried until they got too tuckered out!


This is one of the holding ponds.  It was full of tiny fish.  If you look closely you can see them.  Actually what you are seeing is their shadows.  The ponds have nets over them to keep the birds from stealing the babies.  Soon they will be released into the river and they will head out to the ocean to grow up.  Then they will come back here.  They are born that smart.  They don't even have to go to school to learn that.  So next time you see a school of fish you can be sure there are no Salmon in the class!

Then we headed down to see the Mom's and Dad's :)

This is the fish ladder. They come up the river to the ladder and have to jump against the current to get back home.  We saw them do it last year and it was pretty amazing.  They never give up.

Once they make it up the ladder they go into the adult holding ponds.

There are some really big adults in there!  Looks yummy :)

This was posted near the tanks.  They have to keep track of everything that comes in.

This is another view of the babies ponds.

Now we are leaving the adults behind and heading back to the visitor center past the babies ponds.

Finally back at camp.  We were exhausted from all that fishy excitement.

And, just so you know - This was the year of the braces.  They're blue!

Next up - We head to Dog Creek!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Kisses,