My mom and niece came over from Maine for a week-long visit. My niece had never been here, and the last time my mom came, the little guy was only a few weeks old, so it'd been a while.

Morning Greetings
They'd arrived pretty late at night -- their flight was delayed almost an hour and a half... so I took it easy on them that first day! =]

The other side of the ledge
We took a short drive to the other side of the Ledge, to the Cedar River Watershed... or own local tourist attraction. =]

Water Drums
One of the more interesting items at the watershed is the water drum garden

A beat of a different drum
The native residents of the Valley would position drums under trees, and let the dripping water sing out a tune of its own... the garden uses computer controlled controlled drips, but the effect is pretty striking.

Listening to the music
The little guy really enjoys stopping here!

A very old tree
This tree started growing in the 1300's, and was spared by the first round of cutting in the area, in the early 1900's. It was cut in 1976 as part of a pipeline project

Checking out the watershed
The information center provides quite a bit of information about the watershed, and the activies invoved in managing the water that the city of Seattle needs to operate.

Sending a 'drop' on its way
Part of the center is interactive to help teach kids about the water cycle. They have 'drops', whcih are small balls that you can place in tubes, and the kids follow thier 'drop' to the next link in the cycle.

Getting his drop back
The little guy loves wearing himself out chasing the balls...

Seeing where it goes
He's got to try all of the available slots, of course!

The watershed
There's a map of the watershed that provides the backdrop for a laser show depecting the functions of the watershed, both natural and man-made

Snoqualmie Falls
After we left the watershed area, we did a tour of the area, which of course includes a stop at Snoqualmie Falls, the third-highest falls in the US

The River
The Snowqualmie heads out into the valley that bears its name

Not a lot of flow
There's not a lot of water flowing... especially for this time of the year. Once the melt kicks in, it'll swell a bit, but with about 1/2 the amount of snow we normally get, it seems that we might be in for a dry summer... unless it rains a LOT... most of the water is stored up in the snow. They enjoyed the tour... but Ithink they were glad to have a light day... they enjoyed visiting - and napping, too. =]

 

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