This is the ever-improving issue of Amy Jill's Cookbook.
Barbershops!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

July 24 #18 Chittendon Locks to Discovery Park

An absolutely beautiful day! This summer has been atypical, with good weather on the weekends and lots of overcast during the week. We parked in Discovery Park (the end point of the walk) and walked across the locks to start the walk from the proper point. Getting to the start required us to pass along Commodore Way through the north Magnolia - it is a very nice section of Seattle; the yards and houses are well-kept, clean and pretty. We had a nice, short stroll to the beginning.

This is one of the top 5 destinations in Seattle on a nice day. This is where the river meets the sea. Boats go in and out, birds fly looking for fish, fish struggle to get up the ladder.

After getting in the gate, we visited the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Gardens. Quite lovely, quite relaxing. Getting to the canal side of the gardens, we get a fine view of the locks.
We then moved down to the locks, proper. It’s fun to watch the boat crews get into the lock, tie up and prepare for the rising water (most were heading up to the lake today). It’s also fun to see the spillway and the waters heading to the sound. The salmon are jumping today, you can see a jump every half minute or so, and you can see swarms of salmon lining up to head into the ladder.
After a couple of minutes watching the activity, we moved along to the fish ladder to watch the salmon heading up to the lake. The number of salmon going through is about back to what it was when we first arrived in Seattle (1983). They really tapered off around 1990 or so, but they seem to have bounced back.

The ladder viewing room is very dark, so I wasn’t able to get any good pictures. However on top of that room there is a pretty cool sculpture:

After a couple more minutes enjoying the views of the fish, we headed back up Commodore Way to Discovery Park and the car. It was a most enjoyable walk.

No comments:

Post a Comment