Sky Above, Sand Below, Peace Within

After all the rain we had the previous day, it was nice to wake up to a beautiful, sunny morning. 
I opened my tent door and looked down to find a toad that had taken shelter under my tent. I was careful not to step on him as I stepped out into the quiet campground.  It was only 8 a.m. and everyone else on my site was still asleep. 

So, I took the opportunity to take a walk to the beach. I love walking along the beach by myself in the morning. That's when you get to see the birds and animals that you don't see when there are too many people. The path and the trees were still wet from last night's rain.

A little brown Veery sang it's song in the branches above me. 

When I got to the lake, it was deserted. It was so peaceful. There was the occasional sand castle sitting just out of reach of the waters edge. A reminder that yesterday this beach was filled with kids playing in the sand and water. And a reminder that in just a little while, the beach would be filled with kids again. I savoured these quiet moments to myself. 

I started walking towards the end of the beach. I could see in the distance where the sand ended and the marshy and rocky part began. There are often more interesting things down at the edges of the beach than there are on the beach itself. 

But not always..... I was looking in the water as I slowly walked and I noticed something peculiar in the water. 
It looked like a little lump of sand, which isn't all that unusual. However, this lump of sand was moving! 
I stopped and watched it for awhile. It moved faster than a muscle or clam would move and it seemed too small and the wrong shape to be one of those. It was about half the size of my thumb. 

I picked up a stick and poked at it. Nothing. So I dragged the lump of sand to the shore and out of the water. 
I flipped it upside down and saw that there seemed to be a tube of some sort under it. The top was not hard like a shell, but more rubbery. The sand on top of it made for very good camouflage. If it hadn't been moving I would never have noticed it. I had no clue what this creature is. I later find out on the internet that this was the larva of a Hood Casemaker Caddisfly. Caddisflies build cases using their silk. This particular caddisfly family makes a case of sand grains with a "hood" that covers its head. When I looked closer, I noticed that there were more than one of them moving about under the shallow water.  I put this one back in the water and continued my walk down the beach. 

I kept looking in the water for more interesting things. There were a number of little minnows swimming around. 

I heard a shrill cry of an osprey coming from up ahead. I searched the tree line and then I spotted it at the top of a very tall pine tree. And then I spotted a second one a little farther away. I walked towards them hoping to get a better view. I watched until one flew away and the other landed where I could no longer see it.  But I could still hear it. 

I continued my scanning of the water along the shore line. I started noticing a weevil here and a weevil there, floating in the water. I picked up a stick and started rescuing them. There were a lot of them. Too many to rescue them all. I am sure there will be some fish having a nice weevil dinner later on. 

I saw some sort of sand piper fly by me but it was too fast to get a picture. Instead, I heard the call of another raptor to my right. I looked up and saw a Broad-winged Hawk perched on top of a dead tree. It's a busy place for birds in the morning on this beach. 

When I got to the edge of the beach where it starts to get weedy and mucky, I noticed some trails in the sand left behind by some sort of creature or worm. Not sure exactly what made them. 

I did, however, recognize the large group of tadpoles swimming in the shallow water by the bridge. ​

I stayed at the beach until a couple of families with kids arrived to go swimming. It got too loud and the peacefulness went away, so I decided to head back to our campsite. Mom and Carsten were awake and having coffee when I got back. 

We started packing up shortly after I got back. I found 2 more toads under my tent. I always like to see what kind of critters I can find under and on top of my tent when I pack it up.  Carsten found a Bicolored Sallow Moth caterpillar near his tent. 

A White-throated Sparrow watched us as we packed up. 

A Racket-tailed Emerald dragonfly landed on the bench of the picnic table. It had lovely green eyes. 

There was a Green Comma butterfly that kept hanging out on our clothes and out tents and our hands. It made it a bit difficult to pack sometimes. It seemed to really like us and didn't want to leave.

When the car was all packed up  we decided to make a last trip to the comfort station before leaving the park. We got into the car and shut the door  and realized that the butterfly was in the car with us.!  So we took it for a ride to the comfort station where we let it go. I tried to shoo it out the window but it wouldn't let go of my fingers. I was almost beginning to think we might have a pet butterfly.  I had to carry it out of the car and get it to move on to a tree. 

We left the park at about 11:45 am. When we got to the town of Coniston we decided to stop for lunch. 
We found a little restaurant, called the Coniston Inn Restaurant, with a take-out window. We ordered our food and then waited for it to be made. (The food and the service here is wonderful, by the way). 

While we waited we looked around at the town. We had never been here before, but we were impressed with this little town. So clean, and cute, and cozy. Just from where we were standing we could see that it had an outdoor roller rink, baseball field, port-a-potty, post office, and a large park. 

When we got our food we decided to eat it at the nearby  Lion's Park. It was a wonderful community park. It was so neat and tidy. 

There was a story book walk. Kids can walk down the path and read pages of a story that are posted on signs every few feet. 

It had benches with dedications on them. Behind the benches were community garden plots. Seniors can come here and plant their very own vegetables and flowers in these wooden gardens. 

Some of the plants were also dedicated to loved ones that had passed on. 

In addition to the mini garden plots, there was a large community green house. 

We ate our food while we watched the kids playing on the jungle gym and playing in the water at the splash pad. 

There was even a chair that was the shape of a butterfly. It's so cute. I want a couple for my back yard! 

They even had a little, red, mini lending library.  The whole place was just so cute and well kept. 
Unfortunately we had to cut our visit short. An unexpected and fast-moving thunderstorm started to roll in. 
So, we quickly finished off our meal and headed for the car to make our trip home. 
I will definitely keep this place in mind for the next time I am in the area. It was a nice way to end our camping trip.