In each morning walk, I saw portion of crabs that seems to have been freshly dismembered. I was a puzzled. It was not until today that I realized what is going on. The crabs must have been washed ashore by the tide. Unfortunately, the western gulls are waiting by the shore for the kill. These crabs do not stand a chance.
Junior Ranger Program
The topic for today's junior ranger program is "Leaves Pressing". We had been pressing leaves so we would really love to learn the proper way press the leaves.
Bye Cape Lookout State Park
At 11am, we are all ready to leave. We drove through the "A" loop to find out the answer to this question in the Junior Ranger Activity Booklet before we left:
I also learned that there is a "Park within a Park" here at Cape Lookout. It is called the ____ State Park.
The Cape Lookout State Park is slowing being eroded away. According to the Park Ranger, one way to slow down the inevitable is not keep off those dune.
Flora
Wild Animals
During our stay in Cape Lookout State Park, we spotted a couple of different animals everyday - rabbit, chipmunk, blue jay, robin, woodpecker and squirrel. Coincidentally, these are the same animals we occasionally see in Seattle-area as well. Nevertheless, we really enjoy their company here in Cape Lookout State Park.
During the park ranger program, the park ranger will usually warn us against feeding these animals intentionally. The reason is simply because they will lose their ability to hunt during off-peak season and die to starvation.
Rabbit
A Blue Jay hunting for food
Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Blue Jay Video
Robin Video
Tip: When on-one is around, these animals respond very fast to food items left on the table. Looks like they are very experienced.
Razor Clamming
About 1 mile from Cape Lookout State Park, there is an area where local go clamming at low tide. Unfortunately, we did not have the proper foot ware, otherwise, we would have in the fun.
Clams, or bivalves as they are more technically known because they have two shells or valves, have been harvested in Netarts Bay for hundreds of years. They were a staple of Native Americans living between the Capes, especially around Netarts Bay, long before the arrival of European-American settlers.. Their middens are packed with the shells of cockles and butter clams. Still plentiful today, these clams and others are favorites of residents and visitors alike. There are many species of clams and other bivalves between the Capes, but only about a dozen are typically harvested. -- netartsbaytoday
Not sure what is this bird.
Tip: A shellfish license is needed for clamming. You can find the cost here.
Oceanside Beach State Recreation Site
During last night Ranger Program, when I commented that we have not really seen any interesting wild life in this trip, he recommended we check out Oceanside Beach in the morning - during low tide.
The route to Oceanside Beach State Recreation Site
After lunch, the kids spends some hours playing different board games and blowing some bubbles in the camp site. The adults had some time to catch up on some reading too. No one is in a any hurry to go anywhere. A relaxing afternoon for everyone.
Beach Time
Later in the afternoon, we decided to hit the beach one last time before we leave tomorrow. The older kids had fun trying out "Skimboarding" while the younger kids had fun just getting wet. There were significantly more people on the beach enjoying the beautiful weather. With more people, there were more "art" works around the beach. We love those creative works!
Skimboarding (or skimming) is a boardsport in which a skimboard (a smaller counterpart to a surfboard without fins) is used to glide across the water's surface. Unlike surfing, skimboarding begins on the beach by dropping the board onto the thin wash of previous waves. Skimboarders use their momentum to skim out to breaking waves, which they then catch back into shore in a manner similar to surfing. Another aspect of skimboarding is 'flatland', which involves performing tricks derived from skateboarding such as ollies and shove-its on the wash of waves without catching shore breaks. Skimboarding originated in Southern California when lifeguards wanted an easy way to get across the beaches of Laguna. Skimboarding has developed since then to extreme riding into big shorebreak. -- Wikipedia
Kids decorating the art work left behind
Dinner
This is our last dinner at Cape Lookout State Park. We celebrated this vacation by enjoying a cook-over-fire-pit feast - shrimps, chicken and different vegetables. Yummy! To round off, the kids had lots of fun working together to prepare smore for themselves and the adults.
Sunset
After dinner, the sun was able to set. We went to the bench to catch this precious moment - sun setting over the ocean horizon. We were surprised to see a number of people already there. That was the best moment of our camping trip.
