Journey to Another "End": Pt II

On Monday,

 I showed you the perfect sand dollars we found on our recent trip to a 'new' beach!

But there were more exciting adventures and finds that day...

 

 

Our next find was a starfish!

Grandma was the first to spot it in one of the very, very shallow river 'channels'

of the Necanicum River.

She was SO EXCITED and started screaming at me to come QUICK!

I did.

 

At first she thought it was dead, since it was on its back.
But when she picked the starfish up she realized it was probably still alive--
how cool is that:)

She returned him to the water, this time right side up...
 

A few minutes later it was me doing the screaming because I found a starfish all by myself!

Did you see the first photo?
That was my starfish--
we were all pretty excited about seeing two of them within a few minutes of time :)

 

 

Grandma also found a purple sand dollar down on the beach.

Beautiful isn't it?

 

 

But when she looked at it more carefully, she could see and feel that it had a hairy backside:)
 

And Grandma knew, from her sleepless night of Internet research,

that this was indicative of a living sand dollar.

Her and Papa placed it gently back in a wet location and put a bit of sand around it.

 

 

No way was Grandma going to hurt a living creature!

Besides you're not supposed to do that.

 

 

Grandma is not totally fond of this photo,

but it does show the sand 'craters' near the "End"--

or I should say "The End of the World"?

 

Apparently that is a local name for this area--

and with all the unique aspects of this beach,

plus a great view out to the Pacific,

I think that is a good name for it.  

 

Here's a really good article about this area and sand dollars: 

http://henryehooper.wordpress.com/witness-post-sand-dollars/

 

Grandma says the beach here looks like a moonscape! LOL

What do you think?

 

 

Here I am trying out one of the sand 'craters':)

I couldn't stay long though because the tide was coming in... 

 

Grandma absolutely LOVED all the different patterns on the sand that we found;

she says this is was one of the most interesting beaches she's ever been too

and since she's been to a LOT of beaches that's saying a lot!

 

Here's another pattern in the sand.

Very, very cool!

 

 

It was an awesome day

and Grandma says we'll definitely be going back here again.

I hope they'll be taking me:)

 

 Hope you enjoyed our little journey.

Wishing you all a GREAT day and a wonderful weekend!

The Small One

 

 

Links/Notes:

http://www.beachconnection.net/news/bizbea010710_421.htm

http://www.beachconnection.net/vtour_seas6.htm

http://oregoncoast.beachconnection.net/news/sandoll030812_433.php

http://audubonportland.org/local-birding/iba/iba-map/necanicum

 

All beach photos from this and Monday's post taken in Seaside, Oregon.

Directions to the beach/estuary (south shore):

1. From Highway 101 turn left onto 12th Avenue at the traffic signal.

2. Travel down 12th, crossing over the bridge, until you come to the public parking lot at the end of the avenue. Make sure you look for the crab pots hanging over the bridge rail

when you cross over the Necanicum River!

3. Park your car and remove all the 'essentials' from your trunk. LOL

4.  Take either the concrete steps or ramp. Now take the short path you can see over the dune. This will put you on the beach. Turning left here (plus a long walk) would take you to the main promenade area of Seaside and an often very crowded beach.

5. Be different and turn right instead! Now you are on the less crowded northern portion of Seaside's beach. It's a whole different experience I promise!

6. Walk, walk and walk some more to the north if you want to go all the way to the "end".

You'll know you're there when you have a whole lot of river between you

and the next beach up the coast (Gearhart)  :)

Just to let you know, we arrived about an hour after low tide. We found the sand dollars in a wet area before the river and towards the ocean; the starfish were found in the estuary area.