Salt Creek Recreation Area, Washington Tide Pool Exploring- Heather Hurt Photography

With a little smirk Garrett asked me, “Is this making you feel refreshed and green inside your soul?” We were wandering through the Olympic Peninsula and making our way to Salt Creek Recreation Area.

 He definitely knew the answer was “Yes.”

You all know I love windswept mountaintops, moss dripping from old trees, and dramatic coastlines. To me they are refreshing and awe-inspiring. But do you know how much I love tide pools?!!! Oh man, the love is strong. The swirling water. The colorful critters. The mystery. There is so much more under the surface than we can see at first glance.  Still to this day, I take a look at a tide pool and think, “Meh. Not much in this one.” Then I take a closer look. It starts to come alive with all sorts of little wonders and I find myself staring and exploring for hours.

 I grew up in Oregon and going to Cannon Beach was a frequent occurrence for us. I was running that beach with my crazy hair blowing and exploring the pools at haystack rock waaaaaaaay before it was cool! It still remains one of my favorite places in this great big beautiful world. Now that we live in Washington, though, we decided to take a weekend to explore some of Washington’s beautiful rain forests, coastlines, and tide pool spots. Our sweet Clover even got her first view of some from the cliff above.

We were both tired and worn out from busy lives as we all get, and this trek was definitely refreshing. For our souls and our minds: Beauty, and wind, and swirling water… And nerdy science. For instance, do you know why the Sea Anemone paralyzes some fish but not all? And why they don’t harm us but feel sticky?! Ooooh I could tell you all about it! Those are the things my chemical engineer husband finds attractive, restful, and refreshing- Me talking about science! This is why when planning our anniversary trip last year he requested “somewhere on a coast with sea creatures” (we ended up on Maui, spending most of our time snorkeling. Heaven.) We are so different, but both love experiencing the wonder of this world. I have a feeling there will be many more tide pool explorations in our future!

Anyone have favorite Washington tide pool spots to recommend?! We have some more exploring to do…