Mudslide!

Today we visited Calvert Cliffs State Park. It is south of where we are living on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is a nice park with plenty of hiking trails and a beach. I finally got to put my feet into the Chesapeake Bay! We took a 2 mile hike out to the beach and to the cliffs. The cliffs are the main attraction at the park because they are where you can find fossilized shells and snails from 20million to 50million years ago. The fossils are abundant and fall down or break off from the cliffs. The cliffs were closed when we were there due to unsafe conditions.
Safety, schmafety. We were not going to be deterred from our fossil hunt! The cliffs were maybe 60 feet high made of clay and rock. There was about 5 feet of beach between the cliff face and the water. That 5 feet of beach was also covered with lots of sharp rocks. These were also submerged in the water. You had to go a long way down the cliff to find the fossils. It was slow going for me because I opted to go barefoot before I knew about the sharp rocks. There were also little random jellyfish in the water and on the shoreline. If you didnt know, Kraig an I have a long and unfriendly history with jellyfish dating back to our honeymoon. Anyways, we eventually came to a spot where there were lots of shells jutting out of the cliff. We both did a little excavating. I found a palm-sized, fossilized shell, and Kraig was in the process of finding one about triple that size until we had to evacuate.
That's right,a giant storm cloud rolled in, and then let loose in a major downpour. There were tiny mudslides happening all around us and some smaller rocks coming down too. We did not want to wait to see if the whole cliff would fall on us or not, so we decided to make a break for it. We took to the water to avoid most of the sharp rocks. My barefeet were not suited for our quick exit, so it was really hard for me. There were still plenty of submerged rocks in the waste deep water where we were. The loud thunder booming all around us kept us moving forward. Once we were just about back to the beach, Kraig stopped and told me to get on land. I kept questioning him instead of moving..like why? what do you see? he kept telling me, I will tell you once you are on land. I figured that if it was something bad, or big, or weird- that I wanted to see it too! Turns out, it was a 2 1/2 foot long water snake. Eww. If he would have told me that, I would have moved faster!
Obviously, we made it back safe and sound- just soaked to the bone. The only casualty was Kraig's cell phone. It did not like getting wet, I guess. Would it rather have been crushed by a rock? I don't think so. Anyways, we made the hike back- and actually had a lot of fun. We will probably go back soon to try and find Kraig's monster shell. I will wear water shoes next time.