Our First Experience Clamming

Our friend Cameron said we had to experience clamming in Alaska. So we marked our calendar (a negative 5.6 tide day), rounded up some gear, packed a lunch and made the trek. Our party (and it was a party!) consisted of 6 adults, one teenager, two young boys and two little babies. Whew! All the preparations were made and we drove to Clam Gulch, just about 30 or 40 minutes from where we live. We all crammed into the Suburban and drove right onto the beach. After getting our hip waders or boots on (I have to add that Jacob looked like a genuine Alaskan sportsman wearing Cabelas chest waders!), gathering the shovels, buckets and clam guns (oops, we forgot to get gloves), we ventured towards the water. Cameron told us to look for "divots." O.K., so what does a divot look like? We searched and searched and finally started seeing some divots... only to find that these were actually formed by our own shovels dripping wet mud! We searched some more and then Abe made an incredible find - tiny little clam shells. Except that they were actually sunflower seed shells that Cameron was spitting out. At least Abe had fun following his trail! Ben and Kortney Nelson, our friends who went with us, split off from the group and harvested the first clam of the day. Once we kind of figured out what we were doing, we were able to find about 80 more... oh, I feel guilty for lying... it was actually about 8 more! The kids and babies got tired so we headed into shore for our yummy lunch... and that was our clamming experience. Fun times were had. I felt better looking down the beach and seeing that nobody else appeared to be having much luck either.

Later at night, we learned how to clean the clams; or rather, Jacob and Ben learned! Kortney and I made a great audience. Cameron cooked them in butter and garlic, they let off all their delicious juice and we were able to half fill Ziya's little cereal bowl! Ymmmmm... some fresh bread dipped into that little bowl with a few pieces placed on top... it really was delicious.

When I woke up today and saw how beautifully the sun was shining, I was ready to go out and try again for better luck! Except then I decided to bend down and tweak my back. So now I'm lying in bed unable to move... which is why I'm able to post this during normal day hours! Oh well, maybe next month when the tide is low again!