Crawdading with the Youth

On Wednesday we took the youth to Clay Creek for a combined mutual activity. We played in the creek, caught crawdads and had a cookout. Most of the boys did the crawdad catching while some rode the waves down the creek and the girls walked around in the water.
I recall catching crawdads, frogs and other such animals at the creek behind our school when I was a kid. It was always so much fun so, Kristan and I decided we wanted to try to catch a crawdad too. We started turning over rocks and squinting through the roiling water. I found a really big rock I was sure had crawdads hiding under it, Kristan and I worked together to turn over the rock. A crawdad about the size of my middle finger came lurching out and headed straight for my toes. I booked it in the opposite direction while my friends laughed. Apparently I am not as courageous as I once was.
After we had many buckets full of crawdads, we started boiling water to cook them and the hot dogs we brought. Many of the youth ate the crawdads, even Kristan and I partook of the delicacy. They look like mini lobsters and you only eat their tails. We each took one and broke off the tail. I didn't like the way the shell felt, but I soldiered on. After you break off the tail, you clean out the stomach and other innards, then peel off the shell. Once free of its encasing, it looks kind of like shrimp and is only about an inch long. The flavor? Kind of like thawed and cooked shrimp. Not really much of a flavor but it was fun to try it. Guess if I am ever lost in the woods near a creek and need nourishment I can eat crawdads, provided I don't run away from found crawdad like a little sissy. Yeah, I should probably stick to berries.

Bishop Hansen and some boys looking for crawdads.

The boys riding the waves.

More of our crawdad hunters.

Looking for crawdads.

Nimbly running away from scary crawdad.

Haley, Lea, Natallie and Kaeley.

More youth getting crawdads.

Bishop, Kristy, and Brittany relaxing
while waiting for the water to boil.

Checking out all the buckets of crawdads.

So many crawdads.

See? Mini lobsters!

Here is mine.

Kristan and me eating our bite of crawdad.
After all that, all you have left is a little piece of meat.