One of the great places to visit on the Olympic Peninsula is the Dungeness Spit, a National Wildlife Refuge particularly known for seabirds. My aunt and uncle visiting from Maine are notorious birders so we were eager to take them there. Unfortunately I guess we were out of season; there was hardly a bird to be seen. But we still had a good time.
The Dungeness Spit is a strip of sand sticking out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the north side of the Olympic Peninsula, 5.5 miles long and so narrow you could throw a rock from one side to the other. Aaron saw a picture of it on a map and declared that it makes perfect sense to call it a Spit because it looks like a long piece of drool. Well, okay.
The weather was gorgeous. Unfortunately that means sunscreen, which Jordan hates with a passion and resists by all possible means.
The kids played in the sand, and all of us hiked along the long long beach.
We looked for birds.
We took a ride on a hilarious seesaw that someone made out of driftwood.
On the leeward side of the spit, we discovered a large pond surrounded by very squishy muck. Then we realized it was crab-filled muck! Little muck-colored crabs scuttling from one muck-hole to another everywhere we looked. Fun stuff!
Almost as much fun as the kelp trumpets. Just cut off the end of the bulb and however much stem, and there you are.
But nothing can be taken off the beach, so at the end of the visit, we returned them to the sea.
1 comment:
Regarding Jordan's hatred of sunscreen - for our trip to Hawai'i, David and I bought a couple of long-sleeved rash guards. They were all SPF 50 or above, and (despite being long-sleeved) not too hot to wear even in the Hawaiian sun. They vastly cut down the amount of sunscreen we needed to apply. You might want to look into something like this for Jordan?
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