Lovely Seattle

 In the last several years we have done a lot of road trips to new places we have never been to.  It was really fun living in Houston and having a whole new set of states and cities we had never seen.  We were able to see Austin, San Antonio, Baton Rouge, and Orange Beach.  When we moved here I was excited about exploring a new area and taking more road trips.  This year we went to Yellowstone with Rod and Anne which was super fun and hopefully next year we can take a trip to Glacier which I've heard is amazing. 
Unfortunately, other than these two things there's not as much to see up here in the North in lieu of a 4- 6 hour drive.  Luckily we had some airline points in September and decided to make a trip to Seattle.  I had never been to Seattle so I was excited to see the northwest coast.  We've been missing beaches around here.  

So after deciding on our destination, it wasn't long before we were packing up and heading out.  

A friend recommended that we go to a beach at low tide to see some marine life. As luck would have it we got to Seattle right a low tide.  We weren't able to see live marine life.  The birds were right there waiting with us for their next meal so when we arrived a lot of the crabs and clams were just shells of what they had been.  

I was amazed by the large sea shells, coming from the south where nothing like that exists on the beach.  Audrey was gathering them up by the armfuls, insisting that she was going to take them all with her.  She has always been a collector and sea shells are no exception.  She was in heaven and was a little disappointed when I would only allow her to take two home.  The water was a little cold, but it was so relaxing wading through the shallow pools in search of what we considered treasure. 

 As we walked we noticed squirting water coming up out of the sand. Paul got hit several times by what seemed to be little geysers. After doing our homeschooling research by searching google, and doing a little digging in the sand were we able to find out what was happening.  Here it is for you...if you didn't already know.  

The squirting was coming from the Rough Piddock clam.  This clam rasps away at clay and soft rock to create a burrow where it will live for about 8 years.  The part of the clam that beach goers see is the siphon, which extends from the buried clam up to the water.  The siphon allows water to circulate in and out of the clam for feeding, breathing and reproduction. 

After reading this we had to do some extra digging to validate our research so when Paul felt water hit his leg again he started digging in the sand and found a siphon from one of the clams buried just below the surface of the sand. 

After the stress with work it was good to put our toes in some cool sand and enjoy some new sites and sounds.  There's also something about gathering together in the late afternoon in a hotel room to  eat dinner and watch our favorite cable shows. 
Memories made!