Mussel Hunting

Two weekends ago we headed out of the city for an adventure! Kevin deserves pretty much all the credit for this adventure. He had a vision. A vision of mussels and frites. That vision took us out to the beaches of the Olympic Peninsula! We stayed the night in the lodges at Kalaloch beach so that we'd have a kitchen to cook in after we had picked our mussels, and it worked out very well.

We made so many good memories over the weekend. We got up early on Saturday morning and made a sort of leisurely drive to Kalaloch, stopping at a few thrifts on our way. By the time we go there, it was a few hours from high tide, so we had to move quickly to collect our mussel dinner! We headed straight out and found a few good spots that were still above the tideline...but not for long. At one point, I was leaning down over a shelf trying to pry a mussel free when the boys warned me there was a wave coming it. I jumped up in enough time to not be in any danger...but not in enough time to avoid being drenched by the wave as it crashed against the rocks! Even the boys got drenched by that first wave. We were much more careful of the waves after that. I don't think we were ever in any real danger. We're all pretty careful folks. But it was an adrenaline rush to watch for the waves coming in, yell out to each other, and quickly jump out of the way. The whole weekend was a bit rainy and gray, but not too cold. We bundled. It probably is not what you would typically think of as a day at the beach, but we liked it. Everyone was sporting their wool hats, which kept our heads warm and dry.

In addition to gathering mussels, we also took a nice long walk down the beach on Sunday morning. The tide was going out as we took our walk, but we still had to dodge the swell a few times as we. At one point we were walking pretty far from the water line when we noticed a big wave coming in. The wave was pushing the water line up our way fairly quickly...then really quickly...and we all simultaneously took off at a full sprint up the beach to higher ground. It just so happened that there was a huge felled driftwood tree lying parallel to the water line in our way. And it was a pretty big tree, too! At least waist high and I don't think I'm exaggerating. In what seemed like complete synchronization we all somehow managed to vault ourselves over the tree, but I'm really not sure how. We laughed afterwards that we wished someone would have been video taping us! 

Kevin also tried his hand at fishing for surf perch, but with no luck. We concluded that the surf is just too high during the day this time of year to have a chance. At least at the beaches we were at. He did make an honest effort at it, braving the waves and all. I have to say “braving” is a fair word, too! He definitely took a beating from the waves as he stood out there in his waders.

Oh! I can't forget to say that Kevin's vision of mussels and frites was a success! He painstakingly double fried the potatoes to perfection. They were delicious. The mussels were equally good, and we all got a kick out of the fact that we cooked them on our little cabin's wood fired heater instead of on the stovetop (which was doing full time frites duty).