Crabs!

I've been wanting to have crabs since we moved here.  I remember having them with friends when I had lived here before and really wanted to experience again - this time with my family.

So this weekend we made the trek up to Cantler's for crabs.  

Of course - since it shouldn't just be about the food, we checked out the fall colors and the Chesapeake Bay as well.  First we went to drove out to Sandy Point State Park.  The drive was beautiful and the park was very quiet and peaceful.  When we got out of the car, we realized one of the reasons it was so quiet and peaceful - it was cold and windy!  But beautiful.

O. found a great "caveman stick".

And we saw some deer.














Then it was time to head to Cantler's.  It's down a windy residential road and sits right on the water.  The Chesapeake Bay has so many fingers of water throughout the region here.  It seems like everyone can get waterfront property and it's just so beautiful - especially with the leaves changing.






O. and I shared some crabs.  He had lots of fun using his mallet to crack open the legs.  K. was kind enough to clean the bodies for me to then pick out the meat.  Unfortunately, N. was feeling righteously vegetarian that day and was concerned about flying bits of crab from all the mallet action.

After lunch we walked down to the water where they bring the crabs in and sort them.  You can see why they call them Blue Crabs.

They were yummy and it was a good time.  Some time I'd like to do a side-by-side tasting of Dungeness Crabs and Blue Crabs.  We had Dungeness Crabs growing up and they are so tasty - and because they're bigger, there's more meat and less picking the small bits.

Of course I'll have to try the Stone Crabs in Miami sometime.