Next stop, couch surfing in Seattle with Hugh and Bob. They live in a lovely suburb of Seattle in a house full of fish tanks. Hugh is a zookeeper at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. He very kindly offered to give us a guided tour of some of the sights.
Caution fish passing
Fish ladder built to allow salmon to pass between fresh and salt water, and to navigate the locks. Glass panels below the water line make it possible to watch the fish as they swim through the ladder.
The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, built in 1911 and often nicknamed the Ballard Locks, provides a link for boats between the salt water of Puget Sound and the fresh water of the Ship Canal, which connects eastward to Lake Union and Lake Washington.
Wave to the camera Fiona
Hugh, Bob and Fiona at the top of the pass
There is an underground viewing area where we watched Coho salmon swimming upstream past the windows. There are five different species of salmon returning at different times of year so that there are always some passing the windows no matter when you visit.
A random rocket
Gasworks park was a highlight of Seattle. A former gasification plant, its now a public park, all the parts have been left behind and painted.
Lake Union, a great view of downtown including the space needle, the houseboats around the edge of the lake were in the film Sleepless in Seattle.
Trying out the living sundial in the park. The bird in the background is a remote controlled one!
Live action role play (LARP) in the park, it was genius, every so often they would walk into the bushes and knock the hell out of each other
Hugh had a lot of fish
This pipe fish was our favourite
Cool whiskey bottle lamp
Hugh and Fiona at the orangutan enclosure
There's an orang in there somewhere
Funky!
Pete and his wife Nina an old married couple and don't really get on. They were both caught as babies in the wild 43 years ago, they now have several children and grandchildren! The gorillas that we met and Hugh looks after can be seen at this link
Some of the gorillas were very small
On top of the gorilla and bear house
yum, yum, gorilla food
Not impressed with the prospect of seeing better in the dark
Hugh and Fiona above the gorilla enclosure
The new sun bear had been ripping up his enclosure so some maintenance was required
Randy the snoozing sloth bear
An awesome tree kangaroo
The grizzly enclosure was very elaborate, it was quite weird seeing them in captivity
Going to see the sloth, Fiona was still in shock from the lion roaring at us, it was pretty intense as the sound was amplified by the small concrete building. A young lion had just arrived from another zoo and was still unsettled. We attempted to visit it by walking backwards so we didn't make eye contact but it roared so loudly that we had to give up, the noise went right through us.
The caged beast. Poor Mocha thought he was hidden well away from nosy people right at the back of the cage, then we came along behind the scenes and lifted some camouflage netting to reveal a smiley sloth.
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