Go Fish! (at a Hatchery)

[I'm a bit late posting these pictures]

When in Kentucky a few weeks ago, we visited Cumberland Lake and the Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery. It supplies rainbow and brown trout to all of Kentucky, some of Indiana and Georgia, as well as some Tribal lands in North Carolina.

In the welcome center/gift shop, we bought each of the kids a bag of fish food. The best $3 we spent all day.

I also got a copy of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Good book - more on that later.

In the background of the picture below, you can see the dam. The hatchery uses lots of fresh, cold water from the bottom of the dam.

Watching the children delight in feeding the super hungry trout was really fun.

My niece threw in a handful of food just before I took the picture, below.

The water from the lake is used in the fish hatchery then is deposited in this man-made creek, which is stocked with trout and eventually empties into the Cumberland River. The kids had a blast playing in the cold water on a hot day. Below Mr. Intensity proves his manliness by hefting a rock to splash the cousins.

Walking along the creek bed, we were greeted by this curious deer. He was very close.

Also on our nature hike we found and devoured some black berries.

If you're ever able to visit a fish hatchery, I highly recommend it. Admission was free and it was very entertaining. And even a bit educational - just don't tell the kids!