Olivia has always had a love of animals. Through her school, she learned about Conservation Amassadors, which is a wild and exotic animal rescue. She spent last week interning there for six days and had an amazing experience.
One challenge of gaining this experience is that they’re located down in Paso Robles, about three hours from home. As they don’t provide housing, we rented a house for the week and made a family trip out of it. This was our first time exploring this part of California and it was beautiful with many great food experiences. While Olivia was working hard, the rest of us were providing moral support from the golf course, which was also grueling. Grace, Lucas and I also took a side trip down to Pismo Beach, which was also a first.
The highlight of the trip, aside from a sea otter sighting (my second favorite animal), was a private tour of the campus. It was so cool to be up close to so many wild animals, including a black bear, bald eagles, peacocks, porcupine, lemurs, lynx, mountain lion. The cutest were the baby kangaroo, baby monkey, and baby bobcat.
One night, Olivia declared that she understood now why people come home from work and crack open a cold beer. This was definitely her first introduction to “work,” which included cleaning, feeding, and being pooped on by these beautiful creatures. It was also 109 degrees on her last day. We’re all thankful for a fulfilling week together.
Note: The first animal photos are by Olivia.
