Hood Canal

We were so fortunate to be invited by our friends, Scott and Jean, and their daughter, Serenna, to stay at their cabin on Hood Canal for the holiday weekend. The cabin sleeps about 10 people, which is what we have; 6 adults and 4 children.

We headed out of the house some time before 10am, and were able to catch the 10:30 boat from Edmonds to Kingston. The drive from Kingston after that isn't far, about 30 minutes or so. It took us a little longer, as we missed roads.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Scott, Serenna, and Serenna's friend, Ansuya, along with an ATV with a wagon hitched to the back. We loaded the wagon up with our stuff, and the little girls escorted us down the 1/4 mile trail to the cabin. Actually, they ran ahead with Vincent, while I tried to keep us just enough to see them and David and Tyler could still see me, in case the trail forks off at all (which it does slightly). Those little legs ran super fast!

We arrived just in time for low tide. We got situatied in a little, met the other family, Ansuya's parents, and headed down to the beach to do some clamming. Wow. What a treat to take part in something so interesting. And, fun!

The kids, especially, Tyler, loved it because it was a giant sandbox. It was so great to be able to let them run free, dig and explore in nature, but be totally safe because we were the only ones around. Well, there was one guy who showed up at one point looking for someone, but totally harmless.

The clams we were hunting for weren't just the little steamers (which we found as well), but large, VERY large creatures: horse clams and geoducks. It's a lot of work, and especially helpful with a super low tide. When we would find something, we'd have to dig about 3 feet deep next to it. All the while, that creature is retracting itself further into the sand so not to be, well, eaten. It's quite the process.

Found our first horse clam sticking out of the sand, though, already retracted a couple of inches.

Dig! (see that little clump sticking out next to the hole).





Hello, Horse Clam.

Jean found a honkin' moon snail.

The search for a geoduck!

Doo-doo-doo! Geoduck found! Tyler gives it a touch.

We ended up with 3 horse clams, one geoduck, some steamer clams, one crab, and a few cockles. We found 2 geoducks, but weren't successful with extracting it out of the sand. For an appetizer, we had horse clam fritters. YUM. YUM. YUM.

The rest of dinner did not come from today's hunt, but was still super delicious: whole salmon roasted on the grill, grilled garlic scapes, salad, and grilled sweet potatoes. For dessert, we had fresh mangos from India. Best mangos I've ever tasted.

All 4 kids were so happy to be together and played very well, even with Tyler. Such an awesome day, and so fun cooking, drinking, and eating with friends.