Maya's Visit

Pictures from Leavenworth...
Vil and Summit were very patient while Maya and I enjoyed some shopping. They made lots of friends under the weeping birch tree in the town square.

Here we are at Lake Wenatchee. We had a nice drive out there and an enjoyable little lake walk. Summit was really excited about the native squirrels!

Vil's Mom came back out for a visit and for the wedding of some family friends, Kelly & Mark. We enjoyed her visit so much and really had a nice time in Leavenworth, where Kelly and Mark were married. She never fails to amaze us with her seemingly boundless energy and her zest for hard work. She got up every morning and stained and sanded a ton of stuff, including our stair railings, doors and lots of trim work. It would be late at night and I'd come home from a long day and she'd still be staining. Oh yeah, and did I mention that our laundry would be washed and folded, the floor vaccumed, dishes washed AND.. the dog walked? On top of that she is a wonderful friend and a lot of fun to hang out with. Needless to say, we always enjoy her visits and really miss her when she's gone. Here are some pictures from her stay.

While Maya was here the salmon came up Issaquah Creek to spawn. This is an amazing phenomenon- so many fish you could almost walk across their backs from one side to the other. This year they saw record numbers of fish- whew.. always a relief. We went a couple of times- the first time (a couple weeks ago) I took this video of this female salmon digging to cover her eggs. The biologist thought she most likely had already laid them in the stream bed and was continuing to move rocks on top of them. If she was digging to lay her eggs, you'd usually see her husband close by. Notice the white tail- it's lacking scales from all the digging. You can tell by this video that she's exhausted from the journey and the dig. She will continue to do this for days before she dies. Then in a few months, the eggs (usually 2500 fish) will hatch and return to the sea. Many of them won't make it, but those that do, will return to this very stream in a few years. When we went back one week ago, the salmon were so thick, it was hard to imagine this lone female getting this kind of space- they were fin to fin. Nature is awesome!