Free to Roam

Gosh, I just love free stuff.  And I especially love it if it can provide endless entertainment for a 2 1/2 year old.  Last summer, Scott and I took Harlie to visit the Charles C. Jensen Botanical Garden and I have since been keeping my eyes open for more cool little outdoorsy places that don't charge admission and offer something a little different than our trusty neighborhood parks can.  Since hearing about Mazzy's preschool trip the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, it's been on my mind to take Harlie since it's so close to home.  We got the opportunity to plan a  girls day with my Mom when Scott made golfing plans on Saturday, so I thought it would be fun to hit up the fish hatchery and then grab some lunch at Old Spaghetti Factory which is just a stones throw away.

The Frugal Fanny in me was tickled that the fish hatchery was free and I was even more surprised at how family friendly it was with a child centered visitor's center, a HUGE salmon play sculpture, and fish food dispensers that doled out a handful of pellets for a whopping 5 cents (anybody know where the cents symbol is on the keyboard?).  Harlie could have stayed there all day feeding the gazillion baby trout fishies and if it wasn't particularly warm that day I could have too. It was so much fun watching them jump and splash in their race for the food, like they were a ravenous little river dance troupe.

We'll have to come back in November for sure to watch the salmon climb the ladders during spawning season.

Thanks Mom for lunch and a lovely day!