Only in Sonoma County...

Sunday, January 31, 2010:

One of the reasons that Jeff and I get along so well is that we both like to go on adventures. He does the driving, I do the navigating, and off we go. Today we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and head a little north to Lake Sonoma. Lake Sonoma is one of our favorite spots to visit, regardless of the season. Although it's not too far away from Santa Rosa, it seems wild, uninhabited, and man, is it beautiful!

Today we were interested in visiting the fish hatchery to see how many fish have returned to the hatchery so far this year. If you haven't visited the hatchery, you should definitely check it out. The Lake Sonoma Visitor's Center is full of interesting history/information about the area and, the fish hatchery is a great way to learn more about the lifecycle of the fish that spawn here in Sonoma County.

All the rain we've had did wonders for the creeks and rivers, so the fish are having a ball running inland. Even though the water was murky, we still saw numerous Steelhead jumping up the fish ladders and spawning in the creek at the hatchery. Watching fish spawn in a natural habitat is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It's like seeing something from the Discovery Channel or National Geographic happening right in front of you in your own backyard. Steelhead are BIG fish and they look somewhat out of place in our relatively small streams. Then they start doing their spawning dance, which is awesome! I don't know if it makes me strange or not, but there is something definitely seductive about the way that the males and females introduce themselves, line up side by side, and then, in perfect time, propagate.

Fish watching is another activity that Jeff and I share. He took me to see spawning Steelhead in a very local and secret creek on Valentine's Day when we had just started dating. (I know, it was very romantic. He's a regular Don Juan!) The creek is somewhere I had been many, many times, and yet I had never even thought to look for fish. I had always assumed there was nothing in the water to look for, fish or otherwise. But Jeff merely had to point out the first fish and, suddenly, they became clear to me, like a lense on my world had been changed and now there were fish in my creeks! Seeing the fish and understanding how they live, what they do, and why they are such an important indicator of the overall health of the earth, made my understanding of nature much more complete.

Wow, that was quite a fish tangent. Hopefully my passion will be a nudge to go see the fish for yourselves. If you have kids, visit a farm and see the animals and then go see the fish - I'd bet that your tykes will be eager to be outside for at least a while afterwards.

Back to our day's adventure...

After the hatchery, we drove out one of the roads by the lake. The weather was great, there was sun and some big, puffy clouds cruising by. But to make everything better, we came around a bend and there were a big herd of wild pigs! There were big ones and little ones, brown and black ones, spotted and solid ones. Jeff wanted to "capture" one, but I talked him down and the piggies escaped to face him another day.