Fitzgerald Marine Preserve

The weather didn't end up being quite as nice as originally predicted, but we took advantage of a nice day at the coast and went to explore some tide pools.

We had a lot of fun seeing how much we could identify.

Lots of anemones and snails and bryozoan and algae.

Barnacles,

limpets, 

and mussels.

Kids each picked a spot and spent over half an hour recording everything they could see. It's amazing how much is going on in each little pool when you slow down and watch closely.

After that, we climbed up the bluffs and went for a little hike.

From up there, it was easy to see the harbor seals who live in the area.

And we found a beautiful cypress forest

with views of the rocky coast. This is the California coast I grew up with--foggy, steep bluffs, rocks and cold water.

This orange stuff is actually an algae that grows on the cypress trees.

The forest almost seemed like something out of a movie.

We got to watch a crow being fed--a crow that was about the same size as his parent. I didn't realize they fed their babies when they were this big.

Another foggy view.

Where there are trees, he will climb.

At the end of the trail we came to another beach with more tide pools.

SO many snails!

These found themselves a crab to eat.

And here, we finally found a lot of anemone's wide open.

Including hundreds of little ones--so cute! 

And we found a sea star! He's hard to see, but the brown with white spots on the underside of the rock is it. 

We ended up spending 6 hours at the preserve which was way longer than I thought they would last, but I should have known. We tend to be the last group everywhere we go--I like to think it's because we're taking it all in (and not just because we're really slow at getting anywhere, which feels true sometimes, too). I love having these three adventurers to explore with.