Days 2 and 3 were in Seattle, Washington. We spent a good deal of time at Ballard Locks, which is the gateway for boats and ships to go between the Puget Sound and Salmon Bay. There is up to a 26' elevation difference between the 2 bodies of water, so they use a system of water locks and gravity drains to move the boats up or down for entry between the two.

At the locks, there is also a set of "fish ladders" which allow the salmon to make their way more easily to their spawning grounds.

We also made our way to Pike Place Market, a huge market for fish, veggies, fruit, and all sorts of wares. There were a million people there it seemed, and very busy. There are live bands, lots of fun, and of course, the flying fish of the Pike Place Fish Market.

Also on the agenda was Pioneer Square, an area of town that was destroyed by fire at one point, and completely rebuilt. This area of town also includes a firefighter memorial, which was really cool.

To finish up the day, we spent some time at the Space Needle, built in 1962 for the World's Fair. We elected not to spend $64+ for the elevator ride up, but it's quite a site to see, especially considering it was largely ornamental.

Seattle is a neat town, and we enjoyed our time there.

We'll be updating the video here with some voice over information to add to the educational appeal. Check back for updates.

Faith's blog entry:
We got to see a lot. I liked the Space Needle the best. It was tall. . . taller than my mom (who is really tall.) We didn’t get to go in it though. But we got a souvenir. Thanks for reading.

Kenzie's blog entry:
We’re at Seattle, WA. We have a great campground that we’re staying in. It is so fun. We went and say the Pike Place Market, the space needle and the Ballard Locks. My favorite was the locks! It was so cool!!!! You can see the Salmon swimming when you go under ground. There are giant, lock-like things that block the water and even out for boaters to get across. It sounds confusing but you can watch our video to find out more. See yah!

Explanatory Text for Video - We had some technical issues preventing us from doing the voice over for this video, so here is some text to explain what you're seeing.

Ballard Locks:

The Ballard Locks were built to keep the fresh water from Lake Washington from mixing with the salt water of the ocean, and to move the boats from the higher water level of the lake to the lower water level of Puget Sound.

The way they work is that boats coming in from Salmon Bay line up in the lock. Then they shut the gates on the ends of the lock and seal it shut. The water is then drained until it is the same water level as Puget Sound. Once they are the same, the gate to Puget Sound is opened and the boats are released.

Everything is done in reverse for boats that are coming from Puget Sound and entering Salmon Bay.

Fish Ladders

Another part of the Ballard Locks is the fish ladders. Most fish ladders are entirely in salt water but the Ballard Locks are in salt water and fresh water. The ladders are steps that the Salmon swim up to get to the place they were born and lay their eggs. They usually die after laying their eggs. The ladders attract the fish and keep them from going into the locks were they would probably get killed by boats or birds.



Photos:

Seattle

Video:

I'm switching over to using GodTube for the large videos since some servers block Youtube. Smaller videos will just be embedded here.