A Daddy Fun Day

For those of you expecting a blog entry from Elizabeth, sorry to disappoint you ;-). This is Elizabeth's other half, Lester. While I don't have the literary flair that my talented wife does, I will be a "guest blogger" from time to time.

I wanted to relate a great day I had with the kids. It happened a couple of weekends ago when Elizabeth was at her cousin's wedding in Boise. After we dropped Elizabeth off at the airport, we kept driving east on I-84. After about 1/2 dozen "are we there yets?" and "my tummy hurts," we arrived at the Bonneville Dam and the fish hatchery in the Columbia River Gorge.

We first went to the dam and the fish ladders. Inside the dam are big picture windows where you can see the salmon swimming up the fish ladders. We then went outside where the kids were able to play house at the Bonneville Power energy-efficient model home ;-).

Then it was time for the picnic. We had a delicious (if not nutritious) meal of a ham sandwich, Cheetos, and a cookie. We discovered that the ducks that were swimming near by liked the bread crusts, but the Cheetos not so much.

After the lunch was eaten (mostly) and the area cleaned up, it was time to see and feed the fish. The fish hatchery has a beautiful area of gardens and ponds with the biggest trout and sturgeon you have ever seen. Of course, the fish are so big because all they have to do is swim around and gorge themselves on fish pellets that are thrown to them by eager humans. Alexis took to feeding the ducks, too, and almost lost a finger.

We then went to visit "Herman the Sturgeon." Herman is a very large sturgeon that lives in a pond that has a viewing area below water level. There are also numerous other sturgeon and trout that share the same pond. Brandon was fascinated (and a little intimidated) by the big trout. Alexis seemed right at home with Herman's little brother ;-)

After the coins for the fish food were gone, we walked around and enjoyed the beautiful landscape and took some time to take some pictures.

At last it was time to head home. I decided to take the scenic route home and take the old Columbia River Gorge Hwy. and stop off and visit some of the waterfalls. The waterfalls were beautiful this time of year, and it wasn't raining (always a bonus in Oregon in the fall).

After a short nap during the long ride home, we had another nutritious meal of pizza and tater tots for dinner (when the cat's away, the mice will play ;-), we ended our Daddy Fun Day by watching Meerkat Manor (a show we have started watching together on Animal Planet) and going to bed (without too much fuss). All in all, it will be a day that Daddy will never forget!!