When I was growing up, I knew people that went scalloping every year a few hours from our house. I always intrigued but had never given it much thought. So when our friends who go scalloping every year left on their annual camping trip near Port St. Joe, I jokingly mentioned that it would be fun for us to head over for a day trip and experience this adventure called scalloping. Then I looked at the distance and decided that spending 5 hours in a vehicle in one day just didn’t seem worth it. My friend kept sending me these amazing pictures and videos -hundreds of hermit crabs scurrying on the shore, the movements of a living sand dollar, the RV spot where they were parked, the private pier and beach with NO high rise condos and tourists- and it kept getting harder to not go. Her gracious husband, bless him, mentioned that they would sacrifice their bed and move kids around to accommodate our family and we would all spend the night together in their Airstream that sleeps 6 people. He sent that text at 9am Sunday morning and we left by 2pm Sunday afternoon (Adam had to work yesterday so he wasn’t able to go this time). I have to say, it is one of the best 24 hours I have had in a long time.

Their camping spot was on the Gulf side of a strip of land between St. Joseph’s Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. We arrived late in the afternoon and decided to go exploring right away (after the ladies prepped burgers and veggies for dinner). We took the inflatable boat to a deserted shore to explore and have a nature walk. There were several protected sea turtle nests but we also found a few nests where the turtles had already hatched. We saw a pair of bald eagles and found their tracks in the sand. We chased ghost crabs, handled a dead jellyfish, collected beautiful shells and finished by walking the shore as the sun was setting. The kids had fun naming a fresh water pool The Nile because it was reddish in color, they made a fort around some abandoned cement pilings, they climbed fallen limbs and trees, and ran and splashed in the Gulf. We headed back to cook dinner: homemade burgers with a mix of homegrown pork and local beef, potatoes, broccoli, brussel sprouts and homemade fig bars. It was quite late so the kids got ready for bed and the adults went and sat on the pier; we could see every star in the sky. There was a lovely breeze coming off the ocean and it was such a peaceful time.

Monday morning we spread fruit and nuts on the outside table for the kids to graze on while us ladies walked the beach with our coffee and her husband went fishing. The kids grazed and played in the Gulf and we returned to make a delicious spread for breakfast. We knew it would be a long day in the sun and we needed to fuel our bodies to last until a late lunch. We cleaned up and started to pack for a day in the bay scalloping. Her husband took Madelynn and Graham by bike (there were only 2 helmets) to the boat launch and the rest of us drove to a nature trail that led down to the bay. We saw so many beautiful things on our nature walk: tiny toads hopping around, Willow Apple Gall fly on Sand Oak trees, wild false rosemary, large flowered rosemary and camphor weed.

We waded into the bay and hopped (easier said than done, trust me) into the boat to find the best spot to scallop. This was our first time snorkeling; the kids caught on quickly but I had difficulty convincing my brain that I wasn’t drowning since my nose was covered. I lasted about 15 minutes but I’m glad I was able to experience it! We sat and watched the kids explore, scallop and find amazing things in the water that we had never seen before; eels, sea urchins, scallops, puffer fish, horseshoe crabs, huge blue crabs. A few of the younger kids were stung by multiple jellyfish so us ladies took 4 kids back to the camper to begin lunch. The older 2 boys stayed with the husband and they hit the jackpot with scallops. We made a grazing lunch of homegrown ham, cheese and veggies to hold us over until the boys returned. About 3pm they returned and all the kids went to the Gulf to play while the adults sat around outside and cleaned the scallops. We cooked scallops and mackeral for an early dinner. It was delicious!

After dinner, we headed home for our almost 3 hour drive. The 2 younger kids were asleep in the first 30 minutes, then Graham finally fell asleep and Kathryn and I chatted until about 30 minutes from home. We made so many memories and we plan to spend this week learning about all of the things we saw and experienced. Zeb had already nature journaled two things this morning before breakfast.