Mukilteo Musings

I was at a wine tasting party with our friends in Seattle this weekend. Conversations always take interesting turns. Somehow we managed to be talking about bugs smashed all over windshields after an off color joke. I then made the comment how it is nice that around here we do not have a problem with a lot of bugs while driving. This led another person to comment how when driving to Montana to go fly fishing, they would have to pull into service stations just to clean off the windshield. I responded how as a child we would drive from Montana to Idaho to fish and that one of my most vivid memories is watching everything from grasshoppers to bees splatting all over. Then the question, "Why would you drive to Idaho from Montana to fish?" Oh, but it wasn't to trout fish!!

People are always amazed when I explain that every summer of my childhood, we would spend 2-3 weeks in Idaho fishing for SALMON! And not just any salmon but Chinook or King salmon. My Seattle friends are always completely astounded. But yes, in the 60's the giant King salmon still made their way from the Pacific Ocean, traveling up the Columbia River, the Snake, and into all tributaries into the wilderness of Idaho. Great big 20 to 30 pound fish splashed and fought their way up small creeks to spawn. I have hilarious memories of my childhood Golden Retriever, Laddie, chasing a monstrous fish up the middle of a shallow rushing creek. And I have spooky memories of crossing a small walk bridge over a crystal clear creek and looking down into a calm and deep pool and seeing a gigantic dead ghostly white salmon at the bottom. It had spawned as nature intended and then died as nature intended in a small stream in the wilds of Idaho. But no more! We can thank human encroachment and dams for the end.