Day 13: June 19, 2013

Today has been a quiet day for the most part. We left this morning for a drive through a loop that is supposed to be teeming with wildlife. It wasn't. I think we saw three prong-horned sheep and all those from a distance. We stopped for lunch at a gorgeous site. We dined on the patio of a restaurant overlooking Jackson Lake with the mountains in the background. Very picturesque. Then we drove back to the RV. I took a nap and Ronnie and Beau went for a walk and sat outside for a bit. Once I got up Ronnie and I played a couple of games of cards and then took Beau on the same drive we had gone on this morning. Our thinking was late in the evening we would see more animals. Not so much...until we were almost back to the RV and then there off to the side was a grizzly bear. Not a huge one, but CLOSE!

I jumped out of the car with my camera and tried tracking it...not really realizing that it was getting dangerously close. You tend to lose perspective looking through the lens of a camera rather than just looking at the subject with your eyes. Anyway, I was thrilled when it turned its face my way so that I could get some good shots. About that time the park ranger yelled for all of us (another couple had stopped) to get back in our cars as the bear was "dangerously close." I noted that she was about 5 car lengths away with bear spray in her hand. I was much closer with only a camera in my hand. So, I returned to the car and we drove up to where the bear was and took even more pictures...from the relative safety of the car! The ranger was concerned, however, and probably rightfully so. She asked us to move our cars because we were still too close. At this point the bear was probably about 40 yards away at most and that is less than half of the recommended distance! Yikes!!

Lest I forget, we also happened on a herd of elk right before we saw the bear, but that kind of pales in comparison.

Back to the RV for dinner, showers, reading and bed. Tomorrow we go hiking!