The Best Beach [with kids] Tip // Great Outdoors

Most little kids love hunting for seashells in the sand. Some beaches are filled with shells--others, not so much. Most beaches I have been to have one or two varieties of shells. San Diego beaches tend to have a lot of mussels, clams, etc. Rhode Island? Definitely clams. Maryland and Virginia? They seem to be a bit of everything, but mostly nondescript fragments. Did you know that you can go on "shelling tours" off the Florida coast? That seems a bit extreme to me, but could be interesting.

We went to the beach with friends today, and one brought a variety of seashells she had purchased at the dollar store, spread them out near the blankets, and let the kids go collecting. Since the beach we were at hardly ever has shells, I thought it was brilliant. And fun.

The highlight of the day was seeing a seal swim almost to the shore (literally feet from us), and watching a pod of whales from the cliff. It was pretty surreal.