While Dave was working on his paper for class, we embarked on a fish outing. It is spawning season here for salmon and we had a lot of learning to do to get up to speed!

We started at Dogfish Creek, the largest freshwater tributary to Liberty Bay, by hiking around a park in Poulsbo up near the high school. Not finding salmon there (we didn’t really expect to, but one never knows!), we headed to Fish Park. Surely we’d find fish, or at least information about fish, there, right? Well, the park was awesome but the brochure said more about the park’s history (development, funding, etc.) than about fish. So I grabbed a nice local couple out walking their dog while Sam and Ben climbed around on this salmon structure. Not sure if it’s an oversized bike rack? Play equipment meant for kids? Artwork? Anyway it kept them busy while I researched! So – you CAN view salmon spawning (or returning further upstream to spawn) from the viewing platforms here. The park has undergone tremendous work to restore the estuary and make it suitable for fish and wildlife (a culvert had made it very difficult for salmon to return to their birthplace). The trails were easy and numerous. We had a great time. Then on to the Poulsbo Marine Science Center for some time with the docents and reaching into a VERY cold touch tank to pick up sea stars. We learned lots of interesting things (nudibranch means naked gill – that’s how sea slugs breathe). Of course Foster’s daddy (Ben) was very interested in the sea slug. There is an octopus and a very sinister looking wolf eel in residence. Dave met up with us for JJ’s dinner afterwards. YUM! Sam says there should be national Fish Day. He may be onto something – there’s a FISHING day, but not a day for EAT FISH as far as I can tell. Hmmm… Stay tuned for more fish adventures. I have something up my sleeve for Friday with Ben as my co-conspirator (he is game for anything!). But I’ve really got to stop having so much fun – it takes time to offload the pictures and then get them up here! It means no down time because I’m desperately trying to whip up a good fire with damp wood while the house cools off – I want to get it going before the heat kicks on – who will win??? If I drink Scotch while blowing on the fire, will the air I’m blowing be more flammable and likely to really get it kick started???