Salmon at Strawberry Reservoir

Yesterday we thought it might be fun to take a drive up to Strawberry Reservoir and watch the salmon run. After all, it was "Kokonee Salmon Day" according to the reservoir. We wound our way up beautiful Provo Canyon, and really it was a sight to see. All of the leaves are in the midst of changing and so we saw beautiful orange, red, yellow, and green trees all the way to Strawberry.

We got to Strawberry and went to the salmon trap where employees were there letting people touch the fish. Grace got to touch a couple of salmon and she thought that was just awesome! I kindly declined, thank you (gross!). We learned that salmon only spawn once in their lifetime at around 3 or 4 years old, and then they die. These salmon were in the process of spawning and so the ranger referred to them as "walking zombies," basically already dead. Apparently they hadn't eaten for weeks and so their bodies were eating themselves from the inside out (gross, again, but nature's way I guess).

Anyway, enough about the gory details. The truth is we had a fabulous morning seeing and learning about these beautiful fish! By the way, they turn a beautiful red color in spawning season right before they die.

Gracie touching the fish.

Grace hiding from Smokey the Bear, whom she found terrifying.

I do have to mention Smokey the Bear. He was there greeting kids, and we thought Grace might have fun meeting Smokey. Boy, were we wrong! She was completely intrigued as long as she was a safe distance from him, but when we got close enough to where he could touch her, she freaked out and shooed him away. In the pic above, Grace needed daddy between her and Smokey to feel completely safe, but she couldn't help but peer behind daddy to see Smokey and what he was up to!