This August we were very fortunate that our Governor decided to declare all residents were allowed free admittance into State Parks from August 11 until Labor Day. We decided to take advantage of such an opportunity. With one income and the expenses of homeschooling, this was just what we needed to end our summer vacation.
Moose Point
My kids and I love being on the coast. We always end up on some adventure near the water. So when we were trying to decide what State Park we wanted to go to, we immediately thought of Moose Point. We love going here to explore the tide pools. There is always so much to learn, and this trip was no different.
Crabs
Inevitably, we find crabs. We find hermit crabs and crabs of varying sizes from the size of a quarter to the size of my hand. They are always fun to catch and look at closer. Except for the bigger crabs, we leave them alone. Most of the time we find little ones, though. On this trip
hermit crab in the water 
little crab 
hermit crab peeking out
Rock Gunnel or Eel
While we were exploring, a boy from a YMCA camp yelled out he caught an eel. My kids went running over and let the boy use their bucket so everyone could take a look at it. It sure did look like a little eel. I knew it was possible but wasn’t sure. It certainly was cool and something we never found before.
Later, I did some investigating to see if it was, in fact, an eel we saw at the beach. I found an article on a website by a campground in the area that wrote about this exact topic. You can find it here. It seems likely the creature they found was a Rock Gunnel. We all learned about a new fish we didn’t know existed.
Sea Birds
As typical on the Maine coast, there were lots of gulls. It appears the Double-crested Cormorant was also hanging out, too. We were able to watch the birds bob in the water fishing or exploring the tide pools like us. There is nothing like the sound of birds calling out overhead.
Appears to be a Double-crested Cormorant 
Herring Gull
We had an amazing day exploring, playing on the playground, and enjoying the beautiful weather.
West Quoddy Head
Our next adventure was going to be quite a drive. Over a two and a half hour drive. But one morning we took off early, and we found ourselves further up the coast than our last trip. So far, in fact, we could look out over the water to Canada. After all, we were at the easternmost point in the continental United States.
The Lighthouse
The lighthouse it small but very distinct with its candy-striped pattern. A neat fact we learned was when the lighthouse has been repainted over the years, the red stripes have varied between 6 to 8 stripes. This information was inside the
Hikes
West Quoddy Head has the lighthouse with a Visitor’s Center, but it also has different hiking trails to explore. We decided to explore a few of them.
The first trail we wanted to explore was the Bog Trail. My kids were all excited because the bog had pitcher plants. In case you don’t know, pitcher plants eat bugs like Venus Fly Traps. Yum, yum. They thought this was cool. The bog also contains “sub-arctic and arctic plants rarely seen south of Canada.”
The hike to the bog was a beautiful walk through the woods. It was cool and mossy through much of this area. We had fun exploring the various mushrooms we saw. We’ve become quite obsessed with mushrooms this year since we have seen such a variety on our hikes.
Once we arrived at the bog, the kids were not disappointed. There were pitcher plants everywhere. There were informational signs all around so you knew what you were looking at. The signs had images of the various plants in the bog so the kids had fun trying to find them. It was great.
Our next trail to tackle was the Coastal Trail. We only did a small section of this one. It was a beautiful hike, though a little tiring. There was a lot of up and down steep stairs. My knees were not looking forward to doing it on our return trip back so we took an easier path back to our car.
The Coastal Trail had spectacular views. We walked the rocky coast that overlooked the ocean. I even got to slip in little educational tidbits about the history of the formation of the rocky coast without sounding like teacher-mom.
Beach Exploration
The beach was quite interesting. It was all rocks. I mean, completely worn down, smooth rocks. We spent over an hour exploring the beach. We could have stayed longer. We really love exploring beaches.
There really weren’t any shells, except some large crab shells. The rocks were amazing to explore, though. There were rounded rocks, flat rocks, and little rocks that were so worn they were like the polished rocks you find at gift shops. We had a great time finding different shapes, colors, and textures.
Making the Most of Summer
We have tried to make the most of summer and enjoy our time together. We have also snuck a little learning into our trips. We are homeschoolers, after all, and that is what we do. Life is all about learning.
These trips were wonderful and a great way to leave summer vacation behind us with a bang.
Summer isn’t over, yet, though! We still have a few more days before Labor Day. So we’re off to another State Park today to go swimming.
Enjoy the end of summer. We sure will.
What were some of the fun things your family did this summer?
