la-la land

"Ugghh! This fire is never going to start! We need more kindling, and other dry stuff," Leah said as she and Lucas decided to explore deeper into the forest. The three of us were at Magic Island with the intent of making a fire and cooking some beef dogs. As they were back in the woods, I continued to hear the people at the nearest house yelling and exclaiming what sounded like drunken nonsense. Lucas seemed a little bit more aware of the noise, but I didn't think much of it. After they had collected more wood and we had managed to create a stronger flame, Lucas was staring down the beach and calmly said, "There's a bear on the beach." I reacted calmly, until the "drunken" hollers became more clear, "BEAR! HEY! BEAR! THERE'S A BEAR! WATCH OUT! BEAR!"

We panicked as we watched the bear creep back into the forest after tearing apart a couple fish and eating them. Under normal circumstances, any human that sees a bear moves away from the bear, out of harm's way, and lets it enjoy its nature. However, the trail that led to our escape (my Volvo), was in the same direction as the bear's path. So, we stood with our backs to the beach, scanning the woods, speaking of loud nonsense. We decided that we were better off enjoying our fire and being aware of our unexpected guest.

We continued to make lots of noise and Leah even cooked a hot dog. Within fifteen minutes, the "drunken" yells returned. They quickly caught our attention this time and we focused our eyes to the beach. The bear was again on the beach, this time twice as close. (If we had wanted, we could have walked towards the bear for less than a minute and been able to touch Mr. Bruin (assuming that it didn't move.)) Instead of allowing the bear to continue its search for food, I yelled, and hollered to make our presence undoubted. The people on the deck at the nearby house went silent as they were most likely setting bets on the fate of our lives. When my helpless yells finally caught the bear's attention, it sniffed the air briefly, and then mosied its way back up into the woods, where it seemed to remain for the rest of the evening... At about 10 pm when it was pitch black, we carefully, but loudly walked back to the car. Those are the kind of times that when its all over, and you're home, and laying in bed, you're thankful for the familiarity and safety of your warm, protected covers.