We took advantage of some great weather (took a chance on the forecast for Western Washington, which can turn on a dime) and some great tides, which fortuneately are very spot on and headed out to my old stomping ground on Hood Canal (Hoodsport & Lilliwaup to be exact). If you are not familiar with this are of the state, you should check it out. I LOVE it. If you asked me that when I was 17 years old, I probably would not have said that. However, usually as we grow older we have much greater appreciation for our childhood and the like.
We took the boys out to the beach for them to explore the sea life on the Canal. On the beach, you can find crab, hermit crab, sea urchins, oysters, clams, jelly fish, star fish, sand dollars, and shrimp and fish in the water. We went to a spot where there are oyster beds - which are completely amazing the amount of oysters on the beach. As we made our way through oyster beds out to the sand following the tide out, we couldn't walk without stirring up hundreds (possibly thousands) of baby crab. I have NEVER in my life growing up on those beaches seen so many baby crab. Usually they hide under the rocks, but these babies were just out in the sand. It was crazy. You probably had to be there to fully appreciate my story right now! ;-)
The boys enjoying wading out in the water, trying to find big crab. They did want to catch one to keep, but where my mom lives you have to have crab pots out further than you can wade. At my granparents' beach, you can find keepers under boulders along the shore and in the shallows as the tide goes out, which is how we always use to go crabbing. My great grandpa fashioned a crab catcher out of some chicken wire and a pole. You would take a metal tub and hook it your waders and take the crab catcher and scoop up the crabs into the tub.
On our beach adventure we found some jelly fish. I put one on my shovel and it looks like a bubble, so Fischer tried to pop it with his rake! We saved him and put him back in the water. We saw three different colors of star fish - red, green and purple. We gave a sand dollar to the baby crabs which they immediately started attacking and eating. I am not sure the sand dollar enjoyed being eaten alive, but such is life on the beach - it's survival of the fittest out there and the crabs have the advantage on that one, even though they are tiny. Paden found a dead fish, which we also fed to the baby crab city. One that was a little larger than the others was certainly trying to rule the roost (or the fish mouth). Crab are funny little creatures - always on the defense with their little claws in the air. There weren't any clams on this beach - not sure where they all went for the holiday weekend, but they weren't squirting. At my grandparents' beach, you could walk through clam beds and get soaked by the clams squirting water up at you.
I love taking my boys to the beach and let them experience something different that we don't have where we live. I love for them to know that there is more our there than the dessert. We do live very near (walking distance) to the Columbia River and I love it too. But, there's a very different ecosystem and I want for them to learn about that. Paden did inform us that he did a report about star fish in school and that star fish do not have "arms", they have "rays". It was cool that he got to see one in real life and pick it up and talk to it . . . and that we saw three different colors and got to throw them back into the water. :)
Neil had never been up to "the lake". I actually grew up living near Lake Cushman and Hood Canal. Pretty cool to have a huge fresh water, beautiful lake and the smelly, beach-y salt water of Hood Canal all w/in 5 mintues of the house. Again, you should definitely check out a map! So, we went on a little drive up to the lake. There is a little bit of new development, but it's pretty much the same as I remember. We drove by the house I lived in from age 13 though 18. It's nestled back into some trees and looks smaller than I remember it being. We drove up to the Lake Cushman Resort where I have A TON of fabulous memories/stories of our posse hanging with the Ragan clan. Again, the lodge which was their house looked smaller on the outside than it seemed back then! ;) The resort was packed! Then we drove up to the state park and foudn out why the resort was so full. The state park is pretty much closed! The campground is closed and there is no access to the beaches. You can lauch your boat, but seemingly you can't step foot onto the beaches. I forgot to ask my mom what happened there. Anyway, it was a good little trip down membory lane. I might want to take a tour of the golf course and some other places that I haven't seen in years next time.
We had a great time, outside of the not-so-good bed we have to sleep on when we go to my mom and Steve's, but it's a sacrifice we are willing to make to have a good visit with Grandma with the puppies and to see the beach and all it has to offer little adventurers.
So, here's the scoop - I am not a fan of uploading pictures to blogger, so I am going to just send you to our ShutterFly page where you can look through the photos. I realized a while back, that if you upload your photos before you type, it's much easier. But, I forgot to do that this time, so forget it! Sorry, Blogger, sometimes you are a pain in my . . .
LINK to ShutterFly - http://www.deadrockcrew.shutterfly.com/
We took the boys out to the beach for them to explore the sea life on the Canal. On the beach, you can find crab, hermit crab, sea urchins, oysters, clams, jelly fish, star fish, sand dollars, and shrimp and fish in the water. We went to a spot where there are oyster beds - which are completely amazing the amount of oysters on the beach. As we made our way through oyster beds out to the sand following the tide out, we couldn't walk without stirring up hundreds (possibly thousands) of baby crab. I have NEVER in my life growing up on those beaches seen so many baby crab. Usually they hide under the rocks, but these babies were just out in the sand. It was crazy. You probably had to be there to fully appreciate my story right now! ;-)
The boys enjoying wading out in the water, trying to find big crab. They did want to catch one to keep, but where my mom lives you have to have crab pots out further than you can wade. At my granparents' beach, you can find keepers under boulders along the shore and in the shallows as the tide goes out, which is how we always use to go crabbing. My great grandpa fashioned a crab catcher out of some chicken wire and a pole. You would take a metal tub and hook it your waders and take the crab catcher and scoop up the crabs into the tub.
On our beach adventure we found some jelly fish. I put one on my shovel and it looks like a bubble, so Fischer tried to pop it with his rake! We saved him and put him back in the water. We saw three different colors of star fish - red, green and purple. We gave a sand dollar to the baby crabs which they immediately started attacking and eating. I am not sure the sand dollar enjoyed being eaten alive, but such is life on the beach - it's survival of the fittest out there and the crabs have the advantage on that one, even though they are tiny. Paden found a dead fish, which we also fed to the baby crab city. One that was a little larger than the others was certainly trying to rule the roost (or the fish mouth). Crab are funny little creatures - always on the defense with their little claws in the air. There weren't any clams on this beach - not sure where they all went for the holiday weekend, but they weren't squirting. At my grandparents' beach, you could walk through clam beds and get soaked by the clams squirting water up at you.
I love taking my boys to the beach and let them experience something different that we don't have where we live. I love for them to know that there is more our there than the dessert. We do live very near (walking distance) to the Columbia River and I love it too. But, there's a very different ecosystem and I want for them to learn about that. Paden did inform us that he did a report about star fish in school and that star fish do not have "arms", they have "rays". It was cool that he got to see one in real life and pick it up and talk to it . . . and that we saw three different colors and got to throw them back into the water. :)
Neil had never been up to "the lake". I actually grew up living near Lake Cushman and Hood Canal. Pretty cool to have a huge fresh water, beautiful lake and the smelly, beach-y salt water of Hood Canal all w/in 5 mintues of the house. Again, you should definitely check out a map! So, we went on a little drive up to the lake. There is a little bit of new development, but it's pretty much the same as I remember. We drove by the house I lived in from age 13 though 18. It's nestled back into some trees and looks smaller than I remember it being. We drove up to the Lake Cushman Resort where I have A TON of fabulous memories/stories of our posse hanging with the Ragan clan. Again, the lodge which was their house looked smaller on the outside than it seemed back then! ;) The resort was packed! Then we drove up to the state park and foudn out why the resort was so full. The state park is pretty much closed! The campground is closed and there is no access to the beaches. You can lauch your boat, but seemingly you can't step foot onto the beaches. I forgot to ask my mom what happened there. Anyway, it was a good little trip down membory lane. I might want to take a tour of the golf course and some other places that I haven't seen in years next time.
We had a great time, outside of the not-so-good bed we have to sleep on when we go to my mom and Steve's, but it's a sacrifice we are willing to make to have a good visit with Grandma with the puppies and to see the beach and all it has to offer little adventurers.
So, here's the scoop - I am not a fan of uploading pictures to blogger, so I am going to just send you to our ShutterFly page where you can look through the photos. I realized a while back, that if you upload your photos before you type, it's much easier. But, I forgot to do that this time, so forget it! Sorry, Blogger, sometimes you are a pain in my . . .
LINK to ShutterFly - http://www.deadrockcrew.shutterfly.com/
2 comments:
Wow reading your post made ME want to go visit! But I think I woud need you to go so you could show me all the cool spots! Miss Ya!
You've sold me! It sounds great...definitely worth a bad bed.
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