Growing up just north of San Francisco with family in Boise, I spent much of my time as a kid either along the gorgeous California coastline or exploring mountains and lakes in Idaho. A Crater Lake-Olympics-North Cascades National Park road trip in 2015 was my first introduction to the Pacific Northwest, and it must have left an impression because I moved there for graduate school in 2017 at the University of Washington in Seattle. While a graduate student, I worked for Washington Sea Grant's Crab Team, a citizen-science monitoring program working to prevent the European green crab, an invasive species in North America, from getting a foothold in the Salish Sea. This work meant many hours spent hauling gear and counting crabs in muddy estuaries all across some incredibly beautiful, remote areas of the state. The ability to enjoy both the ocean and mountains in such close proximity is a truly special part of living on the West Coast.