American Revolution Road Trip: Bay Front Park, Maryland

I was feeling like pretty hot stuff as Matt pulled into the Bay Front Park parking lot; I'd researched this magical place to find fossil shark teeth, found a time when we could go and it would be free (instead of over 50 bucks!), programmed the GPS to guide us there, and there we were, in a small parking lot at the side of a random road outside of a small town in Maryland, just a short hike away from what was going to be a very amazing experience.

(Psst--here's why we were so excited to go here!)

I came down a little bit when we reached the beach and I realized that it was total coincidence that I'd happened to bring us here when the tide was at its lowest, as I hadn't researched THAT at all--oops!

Oh, well! It was, indeed, low tide, so shark tooth hunting we did go!

While Matt and the younger kid walked around a bit and explored and played, the older kid and I became immediately and thoroughly obsessed with finding fossil shark teeth. I handed my camera off to Matt so that I wouldn't drop it in the water, and so most of the photos that you'll see here are his, as he entertains himself waiting for me and the older kid to eventually come out of our shark tooth trances.

He apparently entertained himself in part by finding weird stuff that other people did on the beach.

The younger kid entertained herself by getting cold and wet.

 

And the older kid and I did this!

Our preferred method was to scoop up some of the rocks and sand underneath the flowing water and gently sift it in our hand or shovel, much like we'd learned to do when panning for gold.

But did we find fossil shark teeth, you may be wondering?

We did! We didn't find dozens upon dozens, but in the two hours that we spent there, the older kid and I each found several.

Every time I would decide that we really should go--we still had to drive over to Valley Forge that night!--I'd find another fossil shark tooth, and be re-immersed in hunting, all over again.

Finally, just as the very last rays of sun were hitting the beach, I tore the older kid and myself away from the sharks so that we could take just one walk and experience, you know, the actual beach!

And then it seriously was this dark, so we really did leave!

I have plans to identify, organize, and display the beautiful fossil shark teeth that we collected, but I'll tell you about that another time. For now, put your winter clothes on, because we're headed to Valley Forge!