Flat Niamh and Flat Clara's Journal Entry from the Pacific Coast of Washington State

Next on our trip we decided to visit the beach. The beaches up north are far different than the sandy beaches of California. Here the ‘sand’ is actually all very smooth black rocks in all different sizes that get polished by the pounding waves.

The massive storms that hit the coast tear down trees and turn them into giant drift wood that piles up on the shore.

We also found all kinds of seaweed and seabirds.
The tide is also much stronger. Sometimes it can be taller than you and me combined.
So in order for us not to get washed away by the waves, we had to make sure that the tide was very low so we could hike along the beach to our campsite.

Also when the tide is out, you can see where all the sea creatures live in the rocks that are normally deep underwater. These are called tide pools. We found many different colored star fish, sea anemones, mussels, hermit crab and baby fish that are very hard to see because they blend into their surroundings.

Photo credits: Dacia Lange and Mike Calabro