The Most Interesting Creatures of the Trip

Blogger: Miriam 

SO many Crabs

Watching crabs move is one of the most interesting things. Near the start of the trip we would be walking near a beach and then see a crab smaller then a penny scuttling sideways. You need good eyes to see the tiny little guys crawling all over the place. For awhile we did not see and crabs at all. That’s why when we went to a beach in a park called Humbug Mountain State Park the crabs were a surprise. 

We were looking for pretty rocks when Lucy called us over to see something. It was a crab huddled under a big rock looking at us like ‘really guys?’ We looked at him for awhile and then I went to the washroom and when I came back Lucy and Mama were showing  me crabs all over the place. If the crab moved you would be surprised that it moved sideways. They look like they could move forwards but somehow they legs make them go the other way. Most of the ones we saw were purple coloured but there would be the odd greenish or yellow. The biggest crab we saw that day was probably about as big as the palm of my hand. 

The next place we saw crabs was at Sequim Bay State Park. The beach there was small but there were crabs. These guys were little too! Once Daddy saw one we saw hundreds more! I really didn’t want to step on any but they were all over the place! 

But at miracle beach on Vancouver Island (I think everyone’s favourite animal finding beach) we found big crabs and small crabs and all kinds of coloured crabs. We even tried to pick them up and when we found out that we easily can we went all over the place searching for crabs! It was awesome! 

SO many Sand dollars 

Sand dollars are very strange creatures. The first beach that we went to in Georgia Lucy found a dead sand dollar but she dropped it and it broke. But we learned much more about sand dollars when we were at Miracle beach on Vancouver Island (yes this beach again.) The first night when we went walking on the beach the tide was in and we did not see the sand dollars of even think about them. The next day when we went back to the beach Lucy and I saw some dead sand dollars in the water and Mama was calling us over because she had seen hundreds of LIVE ones. Lucy and I left the sand dollars where they were (in case they we alive) and went over to Mama to see what she wanted to show us. The sand dollars she showed us were purple and definitely alive because we could see little hair like things on them moving. I you flipped them over on the other side you would see their harder back and even it was shimmering so slightly so you could tell they were alive. Lucy and I learned the difference between the alive and dead sand dollars so we could help the living and take the dead.

SO many Slugs

Slugs of all shapes and colours cover campsites and trails many places we went. The first time we saw them was when we were hiking in the redwoods forest. We had just been at the visitor centre and I must have seen a sign that said something about a kind of slug. In the middle of our hike when we saw a bright yellow slug that triggered my mind and I remembered that it was called a Banana slug. Some had black and brown places on them just like on a banana. We saw so many banana slugs that day and went to the Visitor Center later to try and figure out where I saw the ‘banana slug’ thing. 

After that we did not see any slugs until Sea Quest State Park where we arrived at our campsite that also had three slugs with it. When the slugs were stretched out they could be almost as long as my foot but if they were scrunched up they looked like a big fat blob. The slugs we were seeing were not banana slugs but they were fun to watch all the same. One of them ( my favourite one claimed up and down the edge of the fire pit. Later when we were having a fire I asked mama if sludgy was out and then we realized he was in the fire pit but still alive. We saved him by picking him up with sticks and noticed that he never really liked the ashes at the bottom of the pit anyway. The next place we went had slugs too! There were black ones and yellow ones and some were light green. There was also a small brown one on the short trail to our campsite that we made sure went to safety. We did not see any slugs at the next place we stayed except for ones that had stuck to the bottom of our tarp. They had come with us on our ride there. After that we had another break from slugs so the next time we saw them was in Price Rupert at the yurt we were staying in. In the morning we saw a really pretty one that was going back and forth in circles. Daddy named it Rupert and everybody thought that it was a great choice. I am now sitting in the car thinking about all of the slugs that we have seen here so far. After taking a fairy(fix spelling) to we are at a wonderful but wet campground with slugs at every step. Today we went for nice hike to a shipwreck and saw 13 slugs on the way there and 8 on the way back. From yellow to black, slugs are all around and are not only cute creatures, but majestic too.

One Scorpion and two Rattlesnakes

Closer to the start of the trip when we were still in the US Lucy and I were playing at a playground in Palmetto State park. Lucy had climbed up onto the playground and I was about to when I saw something sitting on a wooden pole. It was attached to the playground so I didn’t want to climb up in till I knew what it was. When I looked closer I realized that the thing was a scorpion. I told Lucy to get down from the playground equipment because I really wanted her to see it before it moved. We left it sitting there because we didn’t want to disturb it and went back to playing on the swigs.

When we got back from the park mama told us a story about how she was walking and she found a beetle who was struggling because he was flipped over on his back. She turned him over with a stick and then got up to see a rattlesnake ahead of her on the trail. She through the stick near it but it did not move. So she waited until it finally went away and then was able to keep walking on the trail.

The second time we saw one was when we were horse back riding. The person that was leading the group didn’t see it until someone else mentioned it. We went around to leave it alone but it was fun for Daddy, Lucy and I to see it for the first time. 

Lizards

We first started to see lizards a lot when we were in the Everglades. We would be walking aloud a trail or to the bathroom when we would see movement. If we looked up close we would see a beautiful lizard. It was the lizards movement that we would normally see. We would always say things like “We must have passed so many lizards on that trail that did not move.” We saw them a lot throughout the rest of Florida. We saw more in Texas to! The lizards we wandering around everywhere. New Mexico had some too! But the moment we got into Colorado they went away. It was too cold for them there. That was until we got into Utah. It was still cold there but the lizards didn’t mind. It was warm when the sun came out sometimes and they would still be right beside you on the side of a trail even if you didn’t know it. Then we went to Arizona. It was cold at the top of the Grand Canyon so we didn’t see any lizards there but as we hiked down and down we saw more and more. We saw some really big ones that looked like they were doing pushups...very strange.

SO many Donkeys

We were at Lake Pleasant Campground cooking dinner when we heard braying.   I was down at the water when mama called me up to see some donkeys. They came to our campsite to try and get some food. Daddy went up and pet one and I would have to but they were wild donkeys so I thought it would be best not to touch them. After they left we watched them go from campsite to campsite around the lake trying to get food from each and every person in the campground. EEEEEAAAAHH is not the noise that should be used to describe a donkey. To me it sounded more like AAAARAAAAHHHHEEEEEAHHH. But the donkeys were wonderful to watch, listen too and (in Daddy’s case) touch.

There have been so many animals in Canada and the USA that would take forever to list and describe. I would name more if I could think of more but for right now thins is the list.