Ballard is sort of a different little animal... a Seattle neighborhood on the west side, just north of downtown a mile or so. The phrase "ya, sure, you betcha" will probably be spoken at some point. Don't be alarmed. That's just how they roll down there.

We went for the standard tourist attraction there, the Hiram M. Chittenden locks. On the far side of the locks, beyond the dam,

there is a fish ladder with windows under water where we can view the salmon making their way back to lake Washington for spawning.

(Note fish in lower window.) We only had a half dozen fish visible today, but that isn't too bad considering it's just the beginning of July. The fish traffic really picks up in August and goes through September. There were a couple nice looking fish though... 28" for the largest, and it looked like about 20" for the smaller ones.

I'd eat em.

There is a very nice park there, with lots of grass for a nice picnic lunch, which we did not make use of on this visit. We watched a whole lot of boats lock through in the large lock. One of the boats was a very large yacht "Piano Bar" from the Cayman Islands
 
(at least registered there - someone apparently knows how to spell off-shore bank account...). Apparently it's owned by the founder of the Yellowstone Club (according to Googevil). Anyway, this massive thing rose almost 20 feet in the large lock from sea level to lake level. It is always pretty cool to see boats rising and falling in the locks.

In the park today there was a complete orchestra, giving us all a nice bit of music to listen to on a perfect summer day. The temperature was a perfect 70 degrees, with a light breeze. Sunny and warm, just right to be outside in the park. Should have brought my emergency backup frisbee with us from the car, but didn't think of it until later. What kind of a slacker ex-Califoreigner am I anyway. Totally, dude. But I digress.

Apparently the small lock is having some issues with its gate hinges, so it isn't being used much this summer. Too bad, because it sure is nicer to lock through being able to tie off to the floating cleats rather than having to man a line, reel it in, and keep it taught for the 20 minutes or so it takes to flood the large lock. It would be even harder if there are a couple more boats rafted on too... I've taken my boat(s) through the large and small locks both, and the small lock is definitely easier. The currents in the large lock are incredible too... looked literally like a river in there when the large lock was filled to lake level. I've seen a swarm of salmon swimming around in a large school in there too, in Augusts past.

It was nice to visit the locks again, perhaps one of these days I will get the boat ship-shape again and lock it through. Or I could just sit around and blog. Hmmm...