Now the work begins

Dave cooked these giant crabs.  They were actually beautiful....and delicious!

Interesting face.

Allison and a big tuna over 20 lbs.

Everyone helped can the tuna.



Dave's wife, Pam, taught us how to can tuna.  10 tuna!  It was an all day process.  Jerm and Dave filleted, we cut the huge fillets into jar sized pieces, and filled the jars.  A little salt, the lids were screwed on tight, then pressure cooker-ed for 80 minutes each batch.  There were a lot of batches.  We did half pint and full pint jars.

 

Gone Fishing......

Jerm and George went with a couple of their friends tuna fishing.  Had a good day.

This was salmon fishing on the Columbia.

A and J went salmon fishing the second day.  Having your own Pepsi was a treat!

Coming back from the ocean.  They went out about 30 miles.

Each tuna weighed between 20 - 27 lbs., so this is a heavy load.  Have to put them on ice right away.

The ice chest is in the back of the truck.

Loading crab into the cooler.

 

Ocean Park at last

Crossing the 4 mile long bridge at Astoria....only about 30 miles to go!

Jerm and Amy got to the vacation house a couple of hours after we did.

You don't go out very far on this beach.  It is cold and dangerous undertows and sneaker waves can spoil the fun!

A five minute walk through the dune grass and the pines to the house.

Grab a salt shaker and join the kids on their slug hunts.  None of these where we come from.

 

George has trimmed plenty of trees for firepit fuel.  The smores tasted extra special with friends and family to share them.

Ready for S'mores.

Allison is a great marshmallow cooker!

Lots of wind on this beach for kite flying.

This is the post that marks our beach path.  You look for your familiar marker, then climb the path to the top of the sand ridge.  Only then can you see if you are heading towards the right house!

The flowers at the house are really beautiful!

The hydrangea's flower center looks like a flower.

Heading on west

Another berry break happened west of Longview.  We came through Portland, had lunch, and needed a break an hour or so down the road.

The sea lions can really make a mess on a boat.  Sometimes they won't let the owner on.  Sometimes if there are too many, they sink the boat.

The sea lions are a nuisance here at the docks at Astoria!  They get on boats, crowd the docks, eat fish, are noisy, and stinky, etc.
 

I think this is Jace's picture of the tugs and barges on the Columbia.

August 4 Bonneville Dam and Fish Ladders

I don't know who was having more fun.....the grandkids, or the grandparents!!  We spent 3 hours here looking at the fish, the hatchery, the fish ladders, the locks, the educational displays and presentations.  It was an epic field trip!!

 

The fish with arrows pointed the way to walk.

There were some really interesting videos about salmon and sturgeon the fish ladders and the dam itself

The life of a fish from egg to spawning.

A big sturgeon...I think they said 80 years old.

We got there at 8:30 so went to the fish hatchery first...the dam and fish ladders didn't open til 9 am.

There were many salmon, eels, and trout going thru the fish ladders.

We could see the area where a fish counter counts every fish that goes through.  Kind of a boring job???

Jace enjoyed this interactive program on the life of a salmon.  He gave such a good review we all had to try it!

We watched the fish jumping up the ladders on the outside, too.