After waking up this morning and feeling like my husband and I had nothing to do, we decided to take a day trip to York River State Park.  More particularly, Fossil Beach.  We had heard about this location from our good friends who love to hunt for shells and all things searchable.  So we gathered up some water, snacks and sunblock and down the road we went.

The kids kind of resisted going on the trip, which put a damper on the beginning of the day.  Then came the bickering in the car, which always drives my husband and I crazy.  I love my children, but I don’t really like them when they argue.  We got a little turned around because our GPS wasn’t updating quickly, so things weren’t perfect.  I knew all we needed to do was get there and things would turn around.

We crossed a wooden bridge during part of our trail, went through the lovely shaded woods and ended up on the river bank of the York River.  Unsure if we should bring sneakers or flip flops, we went with flip flops. After all, we did wade in the water about a foot in order to sift through the sand at the bottom.  I would suggest bringing a colander for sifting, otherwise you will never find a shark tooth.  Other suggestions include a baggie for your treasures and bug spray.  Also, remember that rivers have a tide, so if you go far from the entrance, realize that you may have to wade through some water to get back.  Not a big deal as it wasn’t deep (1-2 feet).  The beach area is more like a bank and in some places like 3 feet wide, so there’s nowhere to go.  I did this with my camera, so it’s totally doable.

We arrived at the river bank/beach area.  Our daughter who is cooler than us wasn’t interested in participating, so she sat on a fallen tree while we all searched for shark teeth, fossils and shells.  Our son

really got into the search and find. He ended up finding some shells with fossils on them as well as the coveted shark tooth.  He worked so hard and went through several colanders full of sand and shells before finding the one thing he really wanted and frankly, almost gave up.

I took a small number of pictures, but then decided to hop in on the searching.  I’m so glad we went because even I, with almost 40-year-old eyeballs that squint from everything, found a shark tooth.  Those suckers are so hard to find!  We spent about 2 hours there and I feel like we really enjoyed just being outside having something to do other than watch tv.  We all decided we were hungry, so we gathered up our belongings and made the hike back to the car.

All in all, it was a good day and even our cool daughter had a moments peace where she could sit by the water and clear her fast-paced brain.  I do recommend this little spot for a quick day trip indeed!

 

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