Oceanside beach was a few minutes down the road from where we stayed, and we had one day nice enough that we could get the little ones in swimming suits and actually go play there in earnest. When we arrived, some nice ladies pointed out near the rocks and said, "There are some whales out there swimming around!" We were so surprised! I didn't even know whales were a possibility—not so close to shore, anyway!
Once we knew where to look, they were actually quite easy to find, because they kept blowing water (spouting water?) and flipping their tails! I think there were two, but I never quite saw them at the same time, so maybe it was only one very active one.
He must have liked this spot, because he kept surfacing at different points between the rocks and on the other sides of them from time to time. Can you see the water spouting up where he's blowing it? In the black circle. It's very faint!
Here he is again. Still can't see it?
Now? You can see part of his back and I think part of his tail too, behind the water spout.
Like this. (Sam did not want me to draw this picture. He takes no responsibility for it. But at least now you can see, can't you, how it was?) Well, I admit it is not very impressive in a picture. But it was VERY impressive in person and I was so pleased about it, I couldn't stop smiling. Whales! Who would have thought I'd see whales in my lifetime twice?? (And this time without even trying to?)
I really liked this beach, even without the whales, because there were so many interesting things to find and look at. I don't know why this part was so covered with little rocks, but it was fun to walk back and forth by the waves hunting for little clear agates. There were lots of them once you started seeing them. And there were some little sea caves along the cliff that were fun to look into.
Because it was a warmer day, Gus and Ziggy and Clementine were able to spend a lot more time playing in the waves, which was fun. And that meant I could too, which was fun. (Poor Sam was back at the rental house working, on this particular day.)
My greatest find was the cutest, tiniest sand dollar in the world. I couldn't believe how cute and perfect it was. I was going to put it on a necklace, for Junie, who loves the ocean and everything related to it. I put it so carefully into my pocket so it wouldn't get accidentally washed away. And then, somehow, even though it was tucked way down where I thought it wouldn't move or bend, it got crushed into about five pieces in there! I don't know why, except that I guess it was just so delicate! So now all I have are these pictures to remind me of it:
Some pretty agates and shells too!
Junie put this tiny jellyfish (dead) into her goggles so we could look at it. Jellyfish are so interesting!
Four people all going different ways and doing different things
Four people going the same way and doing the same thing
The water really wasn't even cold. It felt good. (Of course, I wasn't getting my head wet. But I was walking in and out up to my waist and was fine.)
All eight of my darlings. Or should I say 8/10ths of my darlings, but 8/8ths of the ones who came.
When the little kids did get cold, some play in the sunny sand soon warmed them up!
This was quite an impressive hole. I think they came upon an existing hole and just enlarged it.
Ziggy, of course, made friends with a bunch of random people on the beach. When I came to call him to the car at the end of the afternoon, a bunch of tattooed guys greeted me: "Hey! We've been helping Ziggy with his hole! He's a great dude!" He is, indeed.
All our treasures (minus my tiny broken sand dollar, *sniff*). What a beautiful day!
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