Kids Come to Visit - Part 2

This is Ashley again, picking up where I left off at Boggan's Oasis on the Grande Ronde River.

On Monday, September 6th (Labor Day) we took a day trip to Joseph, Oregon. We visited Lake Wallowa and the Wallowa State Park.

We saw beautiful bright red salmon that had migrated in from the ocean and were swimming through the creek that feeds into the lake.

On Tuesday we drove to Lewiston and visited a neat pottery shop where we each got a lesson in making pottery. We got to spin some clay on the wheel and shape it into a bowl, cup, vase or whatever we wanted to make. Our creations will need to dry for a couple of weeks, then the professionals will glaze and fire them for us. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of our visit to the pottery shop, but Mary can post a picture of our finished products later.

We took lots of pictures along our drive.

A few more barns...

We drove through lots of small towns...

Later Tuesday afternoon, we drove to Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River. Inside the dam we saw a fish ladder that the migratory fish swim through to get up the river to reproduce. There was a glass window on one side of the fish ladder where you could watch the fish swim through a chamber, and a woman sat inside a booth in front of the window and counted each fish that swam through. We saw King Salmon (chinook), Steelhead, and many more. Kevin and Ben really enjoyed watching the giant fish swimming through the ladder. After that, we cooked hot dogs, fished, and picked wild blackberries.

Today is Wednesday and we are spending the day in and around the Pullman area. I wish I could post many more of our pictures from the trip so far. It has been action packed! Other activites include: antique shopping, sock knitting (Brooke), wine tasting and coffee drinking. We have seen some wildlife: pheasants, valley quail, Hungarian partridge, mule deer, whitetail deer, a bobcat, bald and golden eagles, fish, grizzly bears (don't worry, they were in cages), and bighorn sheep (also in cages).

Tomorrow we will head to the St. Joe River near Avery, Idaho for more fishing and relaxing. We will stay there two nights and then spend Saturday in Coeur d'Alene. Mary and Loren have planned a wonderful vacation for us and we are all having a great time. Back to Texas on Sunday!