So every year about this time there is something called the 'Salmon run' in Chico. It is when all of the salmon find their way back to the river that they were born in from the OCEAN! They come all this way to 'spawn' a.k.a. start a new generation of salmon :0) Matt and i heard about this and had to go see the giant salmon swimming around and thought we might do a little fishing while we were there ;0) The only problem was that we needed to use bait poles with 20lb test line to do that and considering the fact that we only fly-fish we didn't have two bait poles to use SO we went to good ol' Wal-Mart and bought another pole..then problem # 2 arose...we had NO IDEA what kind of bait to use to catch us these salmon SO we felt like idiots asking people what to get :0) You see..were used to GIVING fishing advice..not getting ;0) jk Anywho we ended up buying these lewers that looked like little fish..which was great but they were like 5 bucks each! SO we have everything we need (we think) and we head out to the river to try our luck..The guy told us to 'go on the other side of the river because the fisherman get pretty territorial with their spot and fights are a common occurrence there'...ME-'ummm alright?'LOL :0) Anyways we get there and there are a bunch of guys out there fishing. We find a spot and started fishing..mind you i haven't used a bait pole in years and theres a reason for that!..My line kept getting caught on stuff in the water and i wasn't too happy about losing the bait that i just paid 5 bucks each for!! We got to see some huge salmon jumping out of the water and swimming around. I guess the reason its so hard to catch the salmon is because they are so tired from swimming up-stream from the ocean and laying their eggs so they aren't eating very much..in fact most salmon die after spawning because they are that exhausted. SO we looked to see what our neighbors were using and were confused when we saw that they were just using HUGE hooks...no bait. They would cast the hook way far out there and yank the line as they reeled it in..they were just SNAGGING THE FISH!! Wheres the sport in that!? We were told that its actually illegal to fish like that and if caught doing so there are major fines involved. A few minutes later a guy hooked one on its SIDE and brought it in..Matt and i looked at eachother and decided to call it a day..On the way out we looked at the 30lb salmon that was caught..they look like monster fish with beady eyes and big TEETH!! kinda creepy looking but beautiful at the same time..Anyways The moral of the story is that fly fishing is the best kind of fishing !! :0)

SO Matt and i were at the Zoo a few days ago and we saw the strangest thing...one of the Gorillas looked just like David Bunting! We took a picture of the hideous beast to show you ;0)

More Fishing!


So Matt and i did some fishing last week and we found a pretty good spot! We were on our way to Lake Almanor (1 hour away) to go tube fishing and on the way up we noticed some good lookin' water in Deer Creek that we havent fished yet!! Crazy i know :0) As we set up our poles, a bored roadworker with missing teeth came up to us and said that he saw a lot of fish in the river and that some were just planted the day before.We got down to the river and boy was he right..there was a TON of fish! Matt caught the first one..It was BIG :0)

...and SliPpeRy ;0)

I caught a good size fish too! My favorite part is holding the fish :0)

..and taking pictures with them ;0)

We decided to go try our luck at the lake..and we've yet to catch a fish on our tubes! We didnt care though becuase we had already caught some fishies earlier :0)

Our Labor Day Adventure

Matt and i got a couple of days off together for Labor Day SO we decided to take a much needed mini-vaca and went CaMpInG! Surprise, surprise! :0) We decided that we wanted to try fishing in bigger rivers and lakes so we bought some cool float tubes to try out! We decided to camp at Lassen Volcanic National Park because its really pretty and there are plenty of places to fish and hike.

I think everyone who owned a tent went camping that weekend because all of the campgrounds were packed!! I was kind of worried that we'd get a ghetto camp site but we were really lucky and snagged an awesome spot down by the river! We set up camp and decided to crissen our new float tubes :0) Manzanita Lake was nearby and we heard that the fishing was pretty good there so thats where we decided to go first! Matt did a good job setting up the tubes!

We hiked around the lake and found a good spot to get in the water and get started :0)


The water wasnt very cold and the tubes kept us pretty dry. As we paddled around the lake it was hard for me not to notice the creepy weeds underwater..(stuff underwater creeps me out for some reason.)
The weeds brushed by my legs a couple times (which caused me to freak out) but for the most part they were too deep to bother me :0) We weren't the only people out on the lake..We saw some canoes and a few more float tubes as well. Our legs got a good work out as we explored the lake! This is me changing my fly :0)

It was so incredibly pretty and nice to be out on the water that i didnt care if we caught anything...
...which is a good thing becuase we DIDNT!!! :0) We fished all day though and got to watch the pretty sunset paint the lake.

It started getting cold so we got out and i left with a nice sunburn..big surprise ;0) We went back to camp and gathered some wood for a campfire! We were hoping to eat fish that night but the hotdogs were great :0) We made smores and popped popcorn on the fire. We were exhausted and slept like rocks...and not ON rocks either because we finally got an air mattress! yesss :0)
So the next morning we woke up, ate some oatmeal and pop tarts and then hiked to a cave that wasn't too far away from camp. It was called the Subway Cave and it was made by tons of hot lava underground years ago.

It was pitch black and freezing in there! We had fun walking through it and learning about lava caves :0) We hiked back to camp and packed everything up..not my favorite thing to do ;0) Then we set up our poles and went fishing in Hat Creek with a million other people..also not my favorite thing but Matt managed to catch a nice Brown Trout! He's got skillss ;0)
It started getting really hot and we were getting hungry so we decided to go..We ate a quick lunch consisting of junk food and hit the road..Since we payed 10 bucks to get in Lassen and 16 bucks to camp there we decided to get our moneys worth and do a little exploring ;0) We had a map of all the cool stuff to see there and we covered alot of it..We hiked on a few trails and saw a bunch of pretty meadows and lakes...

..thats where we caught this little snake! :0)We also went to see some of the active volcanic stuff..it was pretty cool..it smelled like sulfur.

This is a boiling mud pot..it was really loud and stuff was squirting out but you couldn't see inside of it because it was up too high and fenced off..im sure it was fenced off for a reason but my curiosity got to me and i just had to go look inside!I wanted to sneak a peek before a bunch of people showed up so i bolted for the mud hole! It was really steep and i was wearing flip flops (not a good combination :0) I scurried up on my hands and knees and got a quick peak inside the boiling mud hole before i slid down the hill..it looked like bubbling wet cement..It was pretty cool and im glad i didn't fall in :0) After all of that we left Lassen Volcanic National Park and headed home..We stopped at Lake Almanor for some grub. There was a huge cloud of smoke in the distant mountains (a forest fire) We saw alot of planes flying over there with fire retardant to help fight it..it was pretty cool to see. Anywho we drove for a couple hours and finally made it home! Our animals were still alive and happy to see us :0) I love camping... i hope it will always be a tradition in our family :0)

Lu-Lu's First Visit to the Vet

So weve been treating our cat Lu Lu for fleas for a while and thought it was working until one day we noticed a worm coming out of our little Lu Lu..We were pretty grossed out and concerned so we decided to take Lu to the vet for the first time :0)

She sat patiently on the exam table and waited for the Doc to come in.

The Doc came in and Lu cooperated really well.We weighed her and she is 9 pounds!..which makes sense because she is constantly eating.What a fatty :0)
We also had her stiches from being spayed removed. She gave us medicine for her ear mite problem and pills to get rid of fleas and worms...Anyways she did a really good job at the doc and we were very proud of our cute little Lu ;0)

P.S. Shes all better now! :0)