A Dam Fish story

Had a nice time last Saturday, took a little day trip up the Columbia Gorge. Saw the falls, Multnomah Falls that is. We'd been out to see it years ago. Lots of years ago. We are happy to report that it is still quite impressive. I would post some pictures here but SOMEBODY forgot to pack the camera when we left the house. All you have is my word as to how nice and impressive all this was.... Soooooo, do you trust me? Well, do ya?????
We proceeded to the booming metropolis of Cascade Locks, location of the Bridge of the Gods, the first place to cross the Columbia into Washington outside of Portland. It's a toll bridge. We had lunch in a local resteraunt with a view of the bridge. There was a brisk wind blowing. Just like it does nearly everyday of the year we were told. A great spot for wind surfing. On our way back to Portland, we stopped at Bonneville Dam. Quite impressive. A campaign promise by FDR in the late 30's that seemed like a boon doggle at the time, but when the war rolled around turned into a pretty savvy move. It was able to provide the electricity for the Portland shipyards that were turning out a ship a day by the end of the war. The dam was built and is run by the Army Corp of Engineers. It consists of a spillway, a couple of powerhouses, a lock and a fish ladder for the salmon that need to go upstream to spawn. The fish ladders have windows where you can watch the salmon and lampreys work their way up stream, against the flow up the river. We took the mini tour of the facilities, incuding powerhouse. Impressive. LARGE scale engineering, especially to someone used to dealing in nanometers. Just outside the Dam grounds is a fish farm. A very nice park like setting with lots of fish ponds for seeing the fish up close: beautiful large rainbow trout - up to 24" long, and some 6' to 8' white sturgeon. BIG fish! Not to be confused with Sturgeons Law.
It wasn't too crowded either. That made it quite nice. The "Wilgus Luck" held: we got very good parking spaces everywhere we stopped. It was a very nice day.