Hermit Crabs and Dirt Paths

Three days in California, and only one time swimming!  What is this? That's okay though, it was worth the wait.
Today, when my dad got home from work he took me and Grace, I mean, Grace and I, on the bike path that leads to the beach.  It is about a 15 minute ride, and not at all unpleasant.
We rode on hard dirt paths, up and down hills and around curves. The dirt path joined a more legit bike path that lead under the highway. Once we came out from under the bridge the ocean was there in front of us, beckoning with its crashing waves.  
The path abruptly ended and gave way to sand, and I dropped my bike and kicked off my shoes and ran into the surf.
The water was the perfect temperature after the bike ride, and once I was in the water I proclaimed aloud how much I had missed it.
I dove under the waves and jumped over them and ran through them and rode them. We weren't quite to the Huntington Beach yet so we didn't have all the crowds, which was nice. We had our own little sliver of sea.
After I was satisfied with my water experience I took to walking along the beach.  We were at the part of the ocean where the Santa Ana river joins it, so there were rock piers on either side of it with an abundance of crabs hiding in them.  I was hopping happily from rock to rock like a little mountain goat when I found a family of these creatures.  The small crabs were scuttling back and forth and stopping to eat off the rocks.  When my giant shadow passed over them they ran for cover or wedged themselves in between two rocks and were impossible for me to grab.
After a lot of determination but no success I was turning to go when I spotted a shape out of place.  It looked suspiciously like a giant buffed-up snail. I grabbed it with lightning speed and was quite gleefully surprised to see little legs clawing at the air!
The little legs were almost transparent with blue rings circling where the ankles would've been. It seemed I had found a hermit crab.
I put the little guy in a stray styrofoam cup and ran back to my dad like a child who had just won a teddy bear at the county fair.
"Look Papa," I said holding out the cup to him.
"Look at that!" he said. "Hermie!"
I took Hermie out of the cup and set him on my palm.  Out popped his little legs, and he went crawling across my hand leaving a tingling sensation in his wake.
I brought him back to his little home on the rock and put him back where he was.  I went back to my bike and all three of us rode home, happy and salty and free.