Beach Combing at Golden Gardens

Late on Saturday night, I noticed a tweet about low tide and beach naturalists at Golden Gardens for Sunday. I told Scott that we should head down to the beach in the morning to check out the sea animals and show Molly the low tide. Scott had never seen low tide at Golden Gardens either so he was excited for our beach adventure. 

We packed Molly and all her stuff up for the beach. She insisted on wearing her backpack and we couldn't leave without her bucket! 

The beach was covered with people and most importantly, beach naturalists. I have been on the hunt for starfish for YEARS! I've seen them at the aquarium but never in the wild. I quickly asked the naturalists if they had seen any starfish and if so, where could I find them. They pointed me down the beach and said to check in the tide pools under the big rocks. 

We headed down to the far end of the beach, an area that is usually covered in water. It took us awhile to make it down the beach as Molly felt the need to inspect every speck of sand, every piece of seaweed and all the rocks. She even met a few doggies along the way and got in a few pets. So pretty much, Molly's mind was blown by our beach adventures before we had even found anything cool!

Just as we were getting tired of walking and looking for my elusive starfish, we found a hoard of them! Seriously there were over 20 in one tiny little area. It was amazing. I started snapping photos and we helped Molly sneak a feel of one of the starfish. Her eyes lit up when she felt the rough yet slimy skin of the starfish. 

After I got my fill of the starfish, we headed back to the car. We spotted some trains on the tracks above the beach. Molly stared at them as they passed high above her head. She is fascinated by trains. 

We were also lucky enough to spot a Heron munching on some lunch. The naturalists told us it was a fish even though from our vantage point, we could have sworn he was eating a snake. 

If you are interested in checking out the low tides in Seattle, you can find more information on the Seattle Aquarium Website. Molly, Scott and I are already planning our next beach adventure!