Part Two.
Always have backup sites to visit. The plan was to visit various waterfalls along the scenic highway, but no parking and 5-mile hikes ended that plan. This means the only waterfall photos I have are from the first stop, Latourell Falls.
Photo Tip: Don’t focus on what is in front of you; look around; there might be a bridge.
Travel Tip: Always have backup sites to visit; if you plan to do one event and it doesn’t work out, then you are out of luck.
The list of places to visit included the Bonneville Dam as an afterthought; a plan b if the weather was bad. I knew nothing about the Dam, so I was super excited when I found out they had Fish Ladders that you could view underwater. I took the elevator down, and bam, huge windows showed the Fish Ladder turbulent water. The Fish Ladders are a series of fish pools that gradually go up so the fish can get around the dam.
I saw some tiny bait fish or baby fish, a trout, and then on the far window, I saw it… A Lamprey. I know about them due to an episode of River Monster, and these fish are the stuff of nightmares. They have a suction cup mouth that clung to the window and showed off their ring of teeth. Big sharp teeth with their snake-like body flapping in the water. However, I loved it, something I’d never seen before in any aquarium, but there, it was right in front of me.
I talked to one of the rangers, and in spring, large groups of Lamprey stick to the windows swirling around like Air Dancers or Tube men you see at car lots. The people that worked at the dam were trying to come up with a term for a group of Lamprey; I suggested Lampraves (Like a Rave Party, add black lights and music).
