A Day in the Life: Tombolos and Starfish

Have I expressed how strange Charleston is yet? A little while back I found someone trying to blow dry their cat-dog with the hand dryers in the ladies restroom here on the marina. A marina employee drives around in a little rusty golf cart with a painted owl manequin on the roof, perhaps for good reason, but still comical. Even the seagulls here are "different." They like to hunker down in the middle of the parking lot or the middle of the road infront of Seahawk Seafood and aren't the least bit moved by you and your car trying to get past them.

But that being said, the area around Charleston is beautiful; full of geology, vegetation, and wildlife. I had the chance to share all of this with my AmeriCorps gang last weekend. We met up at the Bastendorff Beach overlook and then did a 4-mile geology and wildlife exploratory hike from Sunset Bay to Cape Arago.

We learned about sea stacks, tombolos, concretions, and synclines. It was a special day when we could hear the seals and sea lions from over a mile away. Once we reached the Simpson Reef overlook, I knew why. There must have been twice as many seals and sea lions there than I had ever seen before. Plus, we saw [gray?] whales spouting and splashing surprisingly close to the shore. We joked that they were having a conference becasue of all of the racket they were making.

A day of hiking was followed by the traditional camp party spiced with tofurkey skewers and acoustic guitar playing. And Saturday we all traveled to a secluded park along the Umpqua River and swam and rafted to our heart's content. I hadn't realized how much I missed swimming being so close to the freezing Atlantic. Despite the scratches on my feet, it was definitely a highlight of the summer so far.