MEMORY OF BEARS IN THE SHENANDOAHS...

and a poem.

 Photos from way back, but I found a poem on Instagram recently.  Remembering this incredible experience of seeing a bear in the woods on one of our trips up to Skyline Drive a few years ago, and another of a mother bear and her cub.  Well, seeing this poem with its very important message, I felt the need to share them again.  I have had no sightings lately.  Unfortunately the author wasn't recognized, but it came from 'shenandoahnps' (Shenadoah National Park Service)

"I Want To Live"

I am a bear

Shenandoah is my home.

I have plenty of trees, and water

and a beautiful place to roam.

I want to live forever....here.

Slow down for me

when I am crossing Skyline Drive

I might be walking with my family.

Did you know the speed limit is 35?

I want my cubs to live forever...here.

Please don't get me into trouble,

I don't need your food.

I have acorns, berries and bugs to eat.

Leaving garbage is very rude.

I want to live forever...here.

Keep your distance from me,

I am a wild bear.

Never get too close for selfies,

If you love me please care,

I want to live forever...here.

It is a beautiful poem and speaks volumes.  I apologize for my photos as they are very blurry, taken a couple of years apart.  I had only seconds to get the mother and bear, taken through the front window as we stopped to let them cross the road.  We heard the baby crying for its mother, who had gone on ahead and was waiting for her little cub on the other side.  The cub was scared, it almost sounded like it was bleating, and did not want to cross.  Mother waited patiently until the little bear found courage to follow mum and we could hear quite clearly as she huffed her encouragement.  We watched as they disappeared into the undergrowth.  One of those magical moments I will always remember, and that is why I felt the need to share the poem I found a couple of days ago in Instagram.

(Illustrations found at pixabay.com, with thanks)

GRIZZLY BEARS AT DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE

A few more photos my nephew took when we were in Denali last month.  

This was our bicycle chaser.  If you missed it you can read that story by scrolling down at this link. And over the hill he went.  

The following photos are of a mother and cub digging at the side of the road, either for roots or grubs?  I forgot to ask as there were lots of excited people on that bus.  They hadn't long awakened from their winter hibernation - the bears too - and must have been very hungry. Sorry, I could not resist that little joke.  

I could not believe that the bears were only a hop, skip and a jump away from us.  No one asked to get off the bus!  I doubt the driver would have allowed us anyhow, or at any time for that matter, this having taken place after the bicyclist incident.

The smaller bear didn't seem that much smaller than his mother and I wondered how old he was.  I read that cubs stay with their mothers for two to three years.  You can read more information here.

These videos are not that great, especially in the third one as I took a very good minute or two with the bar on the window but I wanted to show the cub making its way down the hill as he sank into the snow.   These videos were all taken with my cell phone.

ALASKA TRIP - MAY 2018 - A VISIT WITH GREGG'S SECOND COUSIN - SUNDAY, MAY 27TH, 2018

Second cousins meet today - Sunday, May 27th, 2018

It is 4.25 p.m. and Gregg and I are sitting in the main room of the hotel, with the elk's head staring down at us.  The fire is keeping us nice and toasty, and once again I am drawn to the wrought iron screen with the wonderful design of salmon, which I fancy are swimming upstream.  The flames in the grate are spurring them on.  No one has let the fire go out yet.  It has always been very welcome when we sit down, especially after coming in from outside.

5.09 p.m. and we are having an early cocktail in the bar while a basketball game is going on.  Several customers are in here this time, showing their support by cheering loudly.  Even my sports' loving husband isn't paying attention to the game.  

Way too noisy for me. We are sitting at our usual table, the one by the window, and we have been spoilt by the previous days of quietness after a busy day of sight-seeing.  We move down to the coffee shop downstairs and order an individual slice of pizza and a salad for dinner.  It is nice and quiet down there. 

From the coffee shop we go outside, have our evening walk and see the bronze bear that stands outside of one of the large windows.  

It is one of my favorite sculptures on the property.

There are a few flowers around but it is still too early for them.  I have read that the place is awash with colorful blooms later in the season, and the hotel is well known for them.

After a nice walk we sit outside next to the fire pit. It warded off the chill in the air very nicely. (This is actually the firepit in the front of the hotel, but the one in the back is identical.)

Now we are in our room after deciding to have an early night.  Before I fell asleep, I decide to jot a few more things down.

Earlier today we spent a few hours with Gregg's second cousin and her family on the outskirts of Anchorage.  Her grandmother and Gregg's grandmother are sisters.  They met on Facebook as she is part of their cousin's group.  

It was lovely meeting them, and also a friend of theirs. They cooked us barbecue, and we were treated to fresh wild salmon and burgers, with all kinds of delicious side-dishes. We enjoyed talking to the family and the next door neighbor's dog came over to say hello.  A few neighbors walking by waved.  

We want to thank Gregg's second cousin and her family again for giving us such a good time. We weren't able to give a lot of warning beforehand.  Our schedule had been hectic and though they knew we were in the area and might be dropping by, we weren't sure on timing.  Gregg called to say hello and we were invited over, they made us very welcome.  It was a lovely ending to our holiday. 

(I finally got a photo of the white whale sculpture as we enter the hotel.)

But, it's not over yet.  There is actually one more day tomorrow.  We are getting up early and going back to Seward.  You guessed it, to see the sea otters, one last hurrah.  And I do hope they are still there.  Even if not it will be lovely to see Seward one last time.

We will be ready to head to the airport the following day.  It has been an amazing vacation, but once you know it is coming to an end, the old homing pigeon instincts kick in and you can't wait to get going.  We will have been away for a month.  Time to go home.

But first, the sea otters...and they will be in my next post.

ALASKA TRIP - MAY 2018 - A QUIET DAY TODAY - FRIDAY, MAY 25TH, 2018

A quiet day today...

Friday, May 25th, 2018  

though there was great excitement downstairs this morning. Gregg went for my coffee and his iced tea while I was getting ready, and found a crowd at the window. He was told a mama black bear and her three cubs were just below. They had moved on by the time he looked, but a man let him take a photo of his photo which he showed Gregg on his iPhone screen, and there they were quite clearly.

12.26 p.m.  Today we decided it would be a laundry day.  

Gregg and I found a laundromat not too far away in Girdwood, and the ceiling was painted like the sky with constellations.  Of course I took photos!

It took 20 minutes for a wash cycle.  I brought my iPad to read while we waited, but rather than hang around for the dryer to finish with our clothes, we decided to check out the mercantile store nearby.

Next we had breakfast in a small restaurant next door, where we ate a breakfast biscuit with home fries.

and chatted with locals outside.

Very cute locals...

but they were anxiously waiting for their humans to come back, so we didn't want to interrupt.  Want to come home with me?  No?  Too bad, I would treat you like you were the center of the universe, and give you kisses as many as there are stars in the sky, and constellations in the heavens, just like in the laundromat.

After we ate we picked up our newly washed and dried laundry, then back to the hotel to see if my computer had soaked up some electrons. It had not! I am having trouble as the screen won't turn on, and we think my computer is kaput!  Ugh!  Of all the luck! 

(There are vases of flowers placed all around the hotel.  Very pretty!)

Fortunately I had downloaded everything to the portable hard drive before leaving home.  As for my photos, as a precaution I keep them on my camera card without deleting after downloading everything to my computer.  Breathing a sigh of relief because this is exactly why I am super cautious. I learned my lesson when it happened before a few years ago. You just never know when your computer is going to throw its hands up and say, enough already!  I am going to have to wait until we get home before I can do anything. 

(These are photos that are in our room.  Love them!)

1.44 p.m. Gregg just got off the phone to a cousin.  They connected through Facebook.  Her grandmother and Gregg's grandmother were sisters.  We are meeting up on Sunday as she lives in Anchorage, and when she saw that we were heading this way she invited us over. 

(I say hello to polar bear when we come back from looking around.  He's always a welcome sight.)

5.31 p.m.  It has been a quiet day.  I had a text from niece to say that they were about to board their flight back to Germany.  They had to change planes in Seattle and had a 12 hour layover.  

We have been taking walks in the evenings on the hotel grounds.  Many of the trails are closed due to avalanche warnings.

We have seen a gradual snow melt since we arrived, but there is still of lot at higher elevations.

These warnings are in strategic places all around the hotel.

On our walks we talk loudly and don't wander too far, especially because of the sighting of the bear family earlier. We have seen people park (not staying at the hotel) and walk on the trails which are open to the general public.  Some of them have bells tied to their walking sticks. Also they often have one or two dogs.  

We went for a cocktail later and Gregg asked the barman if he had seen the bear family again.  He told us no, but when they were there this morning, he saw people outside getting their photos taken with their children, with the mama bear and her cubs not that far away. He could tell even at this distance looking down through the widow, her body language was showing agitation. Oh dear, they might seem cute and cuddly to some, but they are still wild animals.  The barman was trying to give us a gentle warning not to get too close and we thanked him, even though we would not have.

(This is the view from where we are sipping on our cocktail.  There are two large fire-pits, one here and the other at the front of the hotel.  They give off lovely heat as you walk by, and it is a relaxing place to sit for a spell as you can see with this lady and her dog.)

We leave for home next Tuesday the 29th.  Three full days left after this one.  The countdown has begun.