So even before i moved out here i heard about this razor clam business when i was talking to my principal about the school program. So there are a bunch of rules/laws about collecting these special clams. A season only lasts three days per month. I'm not exactly sure what months warrant a season, but i do know that they are winter months... You're only allowed to collect 15 clams per day.
When the season does open up for the weekend, the peninsula swells in population something like 20,000+ people depending on the weather. It was raining real hard, and super windy so i didn't take too many photos. Here's a shot of a bunch of people. I guess it's like this allll the way up and down the peninsula.
Alright so first off you get super suited up, especially if it's raining. Full on rain gear, rubber boots, and most importantly your weapon of choice, a shovel or a "gun". The gun is made of PVC with a thumbsized hole near the handle.
You walk around and hit your gun or shovel on the ground. Basically if there's movement below the surface of the sand from a razor clam you'll see a little volcano/crater form. Next you take the gun and plunge it into the sand down as far as you can get it. Then you take your thumb and cover the hole so that no air will escape. This creates a suction effect so that when you pull the gun back out of the sand the water/sand stays in the gun. Once out of the sand, you let your thumb off the small hole, and the contents of the gun falls out. If you're lucky, you got one of these guys.
I think i only ended up getting six of the possible fifteen of the day. Because it was raining, the craters were super hard to spot. The fact that it was miserable with the wind and the rain aided us in retiring early. Back at Nick's families cabin i was treated to an epic dinner of various seafood. Afterwards i was shown how to clean the razorclams, and various suggestions on how to cook them.
So a student from school asked me to be his mentor for his senior project. He was determined to get the project cranked out during the week. So he, and a student in my construction class headed down to the shop afterschool to work on creating a trashcan hut for the city of Ilwaco to add an aesthetic look, as well as keep various wildlife out of the cans. We worked pretty late both monday and tuesday and finished the project up on thursday.
Wednesday i took the day off from the project because the weather up on the peninsula had been amazing. Mid 50s and sunshine combined with an amazing surf forecast... Darren and i headed out in the cold water to catch some waves. I soon realized i need to pick up some gloves because my hands were absolutely freezing. I realized how out of shape my upper body had gotten since the last time i went out... I manged to catch a real good ride, and fun times were had as the sun set.
Looking south toward North Head and Cape Disappointment.
Sunset just north of North Head.
Thursday night i stayed up late, bundled up and went outside to experiment with some settings on my camera and took photos of the moon over the bay. (be sure to click to see the detail of the stars and what not)
Friday i made my way down to portland to meet up with Nate. We got up early saturday morning and made our way up to the mountain with a fairly large crew. Nate and Sara Phillips from Holden went up in Sara's car with her dog Loki. Myself, Katie, Tim, Evan, and Sarah went up in the brovan.
So there was the crazy inversion up at the mountain. The clouds were lower than usual for this time of the year. This resulted in clear skies and unseasonable warm temperatures. It was in the mid 50s and spring riding was at its best. We had a blast taking runs all over the mountain finding little hips, bumps, chutes, tree jibs, polejams, etc.
The view of the mountain from Portland.
View of the mountain between gvt camp, and meadows.
View rolling up vista.
Above the treeline up at Meadows.
Loki.
Tim trying to eat old jerky.
Sunday most everyone was busy, so Katie and i headed back up to the mountain later in the day to catch the sun heated snow. More good times were had including frequent runs through the pipe.
Today, i enjoyed myself back home on the peninsula. I slept in and decided to do some spring cleaning. It was crazy how nice it was outside... Mid 60s and sunny. It was warm enough to be in a tshirt, so i opened the windows to get some fresh air in the cabin. Later on in the day i went down to the ocean to take some pictures self portrait style.
