So on Saturday Jason and I had the cool chance to walk down to the Ballard locks. The locks are in charge of separating the fresh from salt water and allowing ships to go in and out of Puget Sound. It was really neat watching the boats come in and out and the water levels rise and lower as the locks controlled the change in levels. Going out to sea a ship would sail into a closed off lock, the lock behind it would close and water would drain out front, slowing lowering it to sea level. When it was low enough, the lock in front would open and let it out. The reverse would happen for a ship coming back into the harbor.
Probably the coolest part was going over to the "fish ladder", a viewing area they built so that you can watch the little salmon and other fishies swim up the 21-level ladder designed to help them get back into the fresh water and spawn miles upstream. They are so hard core, those little guys! I was really impressed with the strength they displayed against the extremely strong currents. They're probably thinking " i gotta breed, i gotta breed, must survive, must prolong my species, i gotta breed!!!!"
Afterwards, we went over to the park that overlooked the Locks and sat on a terraced hill, enjoyed the (fairly) warm weather (finally!) and ate our sandwiches which we had made. Haha, and we didn't even have to spend a dime :)
Man, he is too cool in those sunglasses ;)
that's such a good activity. i wouldn't have even thought about those little salmon! tell jay he needs to call me more often.
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