Indelible Lessons on the Olympic Peninsula
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14 November: Olympic Peninsula
Sea otters and seals lounged in the surf; the remains of an entire sea lion washed up on shore, the scattered bones of another lay hidden in the sand; translucent sand fleas leaped into your hand - chew well or they’ll squirm on the way down; anemones, and shore birds; the vertebrae of a whale. These lessons and more found us on a long beach ramble in a fresh breeze and bright sun. Bear and river otter left tracks to show us what drew their attention before our arrival. Eagles kept a watchful eye overhead. Far up on shore a dead fish with a face like a space alien stared out from a pile of seaweed. After several classes of discussion and thought it was invigorating to move for a whole day; to explore, discover, and engage the observational part of my mind.
This one day spent roaming the rugged coast of the Pacific (which, by the way, smells and tastes entirely different from the Atlantic) was worth weeks in the classroom.
No book can explain the anatomy of a sea lion as well as uncovering it’s bones in the sand, feeling them with your fingers and lining them up on the shore. No picture can convey the physiology and sheer mass of a sea lion as well as personally helping to roll over a dead one on the shore; peering at its teeth; feeling the coarseness of its whiskers; spreading its flippers to see their structure . . . Ok, a book and picture might smell better, but I say it was worth it nonetheless. For those hours we stared in fascination at the world around us, drinking in all we could. This type of learning exemplifies the Anake experience - personal, and intense: each lesson a story you will never forget.
