Tracey:
Saw our first grizzly today - from a distance however, so there’s no cause for alarm, Mom. It was happily digging for grubs (or whatever grizzlies eat that requires digging) in a meadow on the side of the road. Once it was spotted a car pulled over to get a better look, then another, then before you knew it traffic was stopped in either direction and people were standing on the side of the road gawking and snapping pictures and doing all the ridiculous things that humans tend to do. Actually, for a crowd of humans they were fairly well-behaved -- speaking quietly and trying to watch respectfully. This was the third time we’ve found ourselves in this kind of situation - the traffic isn’t moving, so you hop out and watch along with the crowd, feeling like dirty paparazzi, but also finding something neat about the fact that in this jaded television/computer age people can get so excited about seeing an animal. The saving grace was that the bear didn’t seem to give a crap about the crowd, never looked up from his digging or glance their way.
Both of us are feeling sluggish today, probably the result of too much heavy food and 2500 miles on the road, so we did an easy 6 mile hike around another lake today (our only wildlife encounter there was a coyote). Fortunately, our lodge for the next couple of nights is one of the nicest places we’ll be staying (so we can kick back and get a good night’s sleep) and we’re able to eat better meals - all of the lodges in this park are operated by different companies and this one is very Green - organic food abounds, everything hormone/antibiotic free, fair trade, etc. We didn’t know that when we booked it, but after last night’s much-needed salad we’re glad that this is where we ended up. It’s great to see all the effort they’ve put into not only providing guests with places to recycle and that sort of thing, but educating them as well. Plus they play good music in the restaurant - at dinner yesterday we were surprised to hear nonstop Dead. Since we were there early and were the only ones eating who didn’t have an AARP card we don’t know how the rest of the guests felt, but we made sure to thank one of the groovers on staff for their fine musical selection.
