We took yesterday off and went out to play around on some trails and do some treasure-hunting. We ended up having a picnic lunch at a lovely spot under some trees by a creek. Saw butterflies, frogs, lizards, birds, and a rabbit. Didn’t find the caches at the cache sites we visited, but we still had a good time being out there. Smallest child was on a mission to find herself a special rock. She has “Everybody Needs a Rock” so she’s been accutely aware of her lack of rock for some time. And she did come home with just the right rock clutched in her hand, so the day was a success.
One thing I noticed and have no explanation for was the lack of rock climbers. We went through an area that’s normally rife with them, where there are always cars on the side of the road and lunatics climbing chimneys high above. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and clear but not hot, with a light breeze. Every other kind of sport had people outside; hikers, bikers, boaters, rollerbladers, you name it. So where did the rock climbers go? Now that there are indoor climbing walls, has everybody who likes to climb moved indoors?
Anyway, it was a good day to be out. Today and tomorrow should be even nicer. Maybe the smallest child will need to go look at more rocks, just to be sure…
Sounds like a fun way to explore re your area. I agree with your youngest on the “everybody needs a rock” philosophy. I have a small collection of rocks, myself. One of them I found hiking up a mountain in the lake District in England, and one I bought at a gift shop at the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. I’m not sure how good the shell collecting is in the Pacific Northwest, but if you would like, I’d be willing to trade a couple of small but interesting rocks (shape, color, origin) for a couple of seashells (and maybe some coral and seaglass if I still have any). Just let me know and I’ll hunt through my collection (just let me know if, for some reason you don’t want any big shells- some of them are almost impressively big).
Hope you have a great Labor Day. 🙂
Ann, shells would likely fall victim to cats or small people unless we found someplace safe to store them, and then we’d forget we had ’em. *g* But rocks are always fun to hunt for!