When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things
Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is called the “crown jewel” of the California state park system. It’s famous for the rocks that create headlands and inlets along its coast, as well as its biodiversity. The Carmel submarine canyon lies just north of the reserve, providing cold, nutrient-rich water to support a variety of marine and land life.
Read MoreBecause I'm a biology nerd who loves animals, I love going on "dates" to the zoo or aquarium. One of my all-time favorite memories of my semester abroad in Europe was a wintry visit to the Dortmund Zoo in Germany with Ryan, and that zoo earned my top spot for its South American giant otter exhibit and a free-ranging sloth. Now that Ryan and I are long distance once again, we needed to make a tradition out of our off-season zoo trip and check out the nearest one in my new locale: the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, MN.
Read MoreOtters are often misunderstood creatures. We've all seen the adorable videos of otters playing with a lucky group of people in a swimming pool. Or the latest video of otters at a zoo nosing snow off a wooden bridge. It was this mesmerizing cuteness that beguiled the public and led to the conservation of otters in Europe when their numbers in the wild were dipping.
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