It’s no potentially poisonous snake, but I found this little fishy quite an exciting sight to behold.

Wild koi in a drainage canal? Whaaaaat? How cool is that?

The only places I’ve ever seen koi before were small ponds in enclosed gardens in Washington. And that was cool, no question. There’s one particular garden in Tacoma that my grandmother used to take my sister and I to that had a bunch of koi; that place was awesome. But they were all planned viewings. I had to go out of my way to see those beautiful fish. This fish, though, I just happened on entirely by chance on my way to work, and in such an incongruous location! The drainage canal isn’t exactly ugly, but it’s no well-tended garden. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see such a vivid, beautiful creature swimming about in there.

It was a pleasant surprise.