This weekend was out first outing of 2010. We saddled up and headed across the Tacoma Narrows to the Hood Canal. I don't think I've stayed there since I was a child with Mom and Dad. Definitely our first family outing there. We stayed at Twanoh State Park on the south side of the canal. I remembered that there were supposed to be lots of oyst
ers, and a quick check of the WDF&W website confirmed this. Wow, there were a lot of them. I had remarked to the family that I couldn't promise anything because the low tides weren't very low, but we'd give it a try. Even with not so low, low tides it was like walking on a carpet of oysters! So, finding the oysters was no problem, but I had no experience shucking them. I do now, and my hands show it. I forgot that you are supposed to use gloves while shucking, and therefore didn't have any. Those black things covering the oysters are mussels... Sharp mussels... Oh, and barnacles, joy! My left hand got all tore up while holding the oysters and trying to insert an oyster knife with my right. It took about two limits (36 oysters) before I kinda got the hang of it. By the time I finished shucking Dakota's limit yeste
rday, I felt semi-proficient. Fried oysters Friday evening, and oyster stew when we got home this evening. We still have 18 in the fridge that I'll fix in the next couple of days. Unfortunately in Washington you must shuck the oysters on the beach leaving the shells there. So no barbecued oysters. Did I mention the weather? Beautifully sunny and warm on Friday and Saturday. Not too bad for having picked this weekend about a month ago, if I do say so myself... The kids had a great time. Colton had to explore the tide flats, finding crabs and eels among other things. Micaela took lots of photos to throw on her Facebook page. And even Dakota managed to have some fun, while handing me oysters to shuck. Dakota even found he likes old John Wayne movies. Go figure, The Duke!? He watched several on his bunk LCD screen last night. Weird. All in all a pretty good weekend spent together. Unfortunately, I work for the next five weekends. Man, that's a long time until we can depart on another adventure!
