Post #10: Olympia, Washington

After spending a week with one of my best friends from high school in Bellingham, I headed south towards Olympia. The next ~2 weeks, I would be staying on a moored sailboat belonging to my mom’s high school friend, Laura Dahmer. They grew up in a small midwest town in Indiana, but while my mom moved to the east coast, Laura moved to Washington. She now lives there with her daughter Clara and husband Paul, who is a wildlife manager for the state.

I had first met the Dahmers on a trip to Oregon and Washington in August 2017. I’ve always adored the west coast and was at the time investigating college options in the area. I had such a great time going out on their sailboat, biking, and walking the beaches with them that it was a no-brainer to reach out to them again while on my trip. They—gracious as ever—were beyond accommodating, despite the pandemic-era precautions we had to take. We had dinner outside on their porch every night, with a view of the sunset over the ocean providing a gorgeous backdrop.

To limit indoor contact, they had me stay on their sailboat, which was docked at the nearby Boston Harbor. This was certainly high up on my favorite overnight locations over the trip. Falling asleep to the swaying of the boat and the clanging of metal pieces blowing in the ocean breeze made me feel like a baby being rocked to sleep while a lullaby played. I always had fun waking up in the morning to find all sorts of birds about, such as the resident great blue heron, pairs of kingfishers, or the feuding purple martins.

Several nights as I made my way to the boat, I encountered a pair of sea otters! They’d pop up next to the boardwalk—startling me by emitting a sharp alarm call—then swim under the dock. It always seemed that the moment I resumed walking was the moment that the male would leap onto the walkway in front of me, hissing the whole time. Whenever I tried to reassure him that I meant no harm and only wished to reach the sailboat, the angry guy would stand up and threaten me with bared teeth. I imagined him leaping on me and wrestling me into the water should I dare to take one step further. Each time this happened, I would do a cautious edging-around maneuver, keeping as far away as I could while passing him by. This always seemed to make him concede, as he usually dove back into the water—though not before emitting one last ferocious hisssss!

I spent a lot of time exploring the natural areas in Olympia—one of my favorites being Woodard Bay Conservation Area. I walked down a long access road (not open to driving by the public) to reach the point, which had beaches on both sides. There were birds all over the place—common mergansers, sea gulls, cormorants, herons, a bald eagle, and so many more. Established in 1987, this area was one of the first conservation areas in the state. It protects about 800 acres of old-growth forest and protects its shorelines—making it extremely important for the animals who live in this type of habitat. The area has a rich Native American history intersecting with conservation, farming, and logging—though there’s far too much to dive into here, it’s important to always think about the history of the land you are on!

Otis, the Dahmers’ dog, was an adorable little guy who loved to chew on sticks and run around in the yard. I also must say that he was quite the model! We all had a good laugh over the photoshoot I took of him in the yard one evening—looking like he was a professional dog model.

After an afternoon spent bird-watching in the Dahmers’ yard, I was able to sit down for a video interview with Paul to talk about his career and the changes he’s seen in the wildlife management field over the years. He was pretty excited, even dressing up in his official outfit for the interview, where I had him sit under a flowering tree in their yard.

He had so many great insights that I would’ve loved to share here, but unfortunately the edited interview was corrupted—leaving me with no time to redo it before the semester is over! My goal is to edit this together in my own time after the semester is over and post it on here, so stay tuned!!