04 October 2014

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: 
 
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:
 
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.

29 September 2014

Journey to Another "End"

 
Hi! It's me--the Small One,
aka Aimee's granddaughter.
Today I've taken over Grandma's laptop to tell you all about our latest adventure--
an early birthday celebration for someone I know:) 
 
HAPPY EARLY Birthday Grandma!
 
Now since it was Grandma's celebration,
 that meant she got to decide where we'd all go
and since she has a LONG list of places she likes,
it took her quite awhile to settle on the city by the bay.
No, no! LOL
Not THAT city by the bay,
but Astoria--
the city by Young's Bay in NW Oregon
and
famous for being the location of quite a few movies among other things.
 
But the night before the celebration,
Grandma couldn't sleep which meant she spent tons of time on the Internet
and unbeknownst to me (or anyone else) she found a new place for us to explore instead.
 
Here's what happened...
 
 
First we started with
breakfast in the Coast Range...
oh, and my first coffee
(Grandpa is such a PNW boy that thinks everyone should LOVE coffee.
Don't worry Grandma he gave me only a little itty bit.)
 
Grandma's family has been coming here to Camp 18 for years.
 
 
She loves the woodland setting along pretty Humbug Creek,
the very entertaining birds,
the historical outdoor display about logging,
the fact that you get to eat in a beautiful log building 
and the yummy food!
Oh, it's also very neat that it's so close to the coast!
 
 
I like it at Camp 18 too!
Here I am playing walrus...

After we ate and explored outside for awhile we all got into the car again.
It was then, as we were headed down the tree lined road, that
Grandma broke the news to Papa that she was thinking of a new destination for today's fun.
I knew something was up when she started spelling...
S-A-N-D  D
and she mentioned me.
Hum, where could she be thinking of having us go now?
 
 
Before too long we drove over a bridge and I heard her talking about crab pots.
I guess a lot of people hang their crab pots off this particular bridge.
Pretty cool huh?
Soon Papa parked our car, we grabbed all the 'essentials' out of the trunk and started walking--
first down some steps and then on a short path over the dunes...
 
 
Peek-a-boo headland.
Grandma loves headlands:) 

 
Pretty trees in a sea of grass. 
Grandma loves trees too!

 
When we were over the dune this is where we ended up at.
(Can you see Tilly?
I didn't know what Tilly was until this trip.
There's a lot to learn about the coast you know and my grandparents want me to learn all I can).
 
Then we turned right and started walking
a LONG ways toward a river.
 
On the way there we saw many interesting things...
a lot of broken crab shells,
a whole bunch of different patterns in the sand,
seagulls and dogs,
and
a whole bunch of broken sand dollars.
 
 
Then Papa found these!
Now, I know what SAND D meant--
sand dollars and perfect sand dollars at that!
Yippee!
I like this place:)
 
But that wasn't all we saw and found there...
 
Stay tuned for part two and learn more about this "End".
 
Bye for now:)
The Small One
 
Notes:
See next post for some links
(Grandma, what's a "link"?)
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