An afternoon at the beach.

What's the first thing you thought of when you read the title. Sand? Sun? Swimming in the waves? Well, the beaches in Washington are very different from those beach images. The weather here is quite temperate. Not too hot, but not to cold. Which in turn causes the water to stay quite chilly. At least too cold for this momma to ever go for a dip. So a day at the beaches on Puget Sound are a little different than your traditional sand castle experience. Princess was posed and ready. She has her bag along for any pretty rocks she may want to collect. Also in the bag is a plastic container, during berry season you have to be prepared. You never know when you'll come across a good berry patch.The General mostly enjoys looking under rocks for crabs or other little critters. He has so much fun exploring. Notice the Olympic Mountains in the background. I think that is my favorite part, all the beauty that surrounds us. This time Bubby thought rock skipping was the best. The whole beach is actually lots and lots of pebbles and rocks. You find some of the best skippers. Mr. Nomad is a pro. He can get as many as 7 or 8 skips out of a good rock. I, on the other hand, sadly struggle to get mine to skip once or twice.We had so much fun checking everything out. I look forward to many more hikes down to the Sound. Notice all the islands in the background? Puget Sound on a map looks like a big open area of water. When in fact it is full of little, and sometimes not so little, islands and inlets. As you can see it is very beautiful.

We weren't the only explorers at the beach on that day. It seems this sea otter was just as curious about us. He was so funny. He slowly came over to where we were playing. Then he would bob up and down, trying to get higher in the water for a closer look at those crazy humans who kept taking pictures of him. I hope we get to see him on our next visit.