Spawning Salmon and Yarn Arrived!

My sister and I volunteered at Multnomah Falls Visitors Center yesterday and when we arrived I snapped this photo from the bridge over Multnomah Creek where we went to see the Salmon spawning.  It was a gorgeous Fall day with lots of water coming over the falls.

There were some HUGE salmon in the creek spawning.  They were born here, swim down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean - where they spend a few years growing and eating smaller fish.  Then they swim back up the river and they find the creek where they were born and swim up the swift moving water and use their tails to brush away the sand and rock and lay their eggs.  The males then fertilize the eggs and they brush their tails over the sand and rock to cover the eggs where they lay until the Spring when they hatch.  After all this work and getting their eggs laid, the exhausted fish then die. 

As you can see they are pretty battered by now.   

There was one salmon there that was the biggest I'd ever seen, at 3 feet long! 

We spent another enjoyable afternoon helping visitors to find their way to see all the fun things like Bonneville Dam and the Fish Hatchery, Cascade Locks, the Bridge of the Gods and Hood River where all the wind surfers go.  Not to mention all the waterfalls nearby.  I was able to finish another hot pad using this wonderful variegated cotton by KnitPicks.  The color is "Cottage Multi". 

I can't believe with Daylight Savings Time turned off and the days getting shorter, but when we get done with our volunteer shift at 5 pm, the sun is down!  I snapped this shot through my windshield on the on ramp to the freeway to come home. :-)  That is Portland down there! 

When I arrived home there was a box from KnitPicks!  I whipped up my first square of my holiday afghan and am very pleased with the results!  I also got 5 skeins of their organic unbleached natural cotton, called "Marshmallow".  I want to make some kitchen dish cloths, hot pads and I want to make a dish towel, too.

I will be heading off to swim this afternoon.  I hope you all have a great weekend, I'm looking forward to making more squares!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)