When You Come Across Three Snakes and a Swarm of Mosquitoes . . .

. . a grizzly and her cub are the least of your concerns.

I really wanted to go looking for the bears that we were warned about by three hikers, but I wanted us to be able to tell our stories as well. It's okay; we have more days to risk our lives. What I don't want is for our family to be notified that our bodies were found swarming with snakes and drained of blood by mosquitoes.

But before I get to that lovely encounter-

Day three

Stop one: Cafe Boheme

After sandwiches and cold hotdogs yesterday, tasty though they were, this morning we sought out a breakfast in town (and Luke really wanted coffee). The atmosphere was great, lovely French music, and the crepes-mmmmmm. Then I heard the baker's French accent and knew why the food was so amazing.

Stop two: Annie gapes at the mountains

We spent the day mesmerized by Grand Teton et. al. Our hike around Jenny Lake detoured us because of the bear sighting, but we saw plenty of wildlife. Just you wait for the photos. You, too, will be in awe.

After a little research with Asimov, I am kinda certain that the critter we saw making away with a bird in his mouth was a marten. The rest of the birds chased that guy for awhile, chirping and panicking, poor things.

So we had a couple of great hikes, but, really, you had to be there.

Getting away from the hoards of people from all over the world who just wanted us to leave so that they could have our parking place, we found a slightly isolated pull off and started down a trail that was out in the open. I sprayed my arms with insect repellent, but Luke didn't want to this time. The trail soon entered a forest and we returned to our silly songs and noises to keep away the bears. Then I thought, what if they can't stand my singing and track me down to do away with us? Or what if they think it's karaoke time and come join in with "The Bear went Over the Mountain?" As I was amusing myself with these ideas, Luke jumped back with an "Oh shit!" and I grabbed the back of his shirt, certain that a bear was just ahead. What his feet were avoiding happened to be three slithering snakes. Three. I'm thankful Luke didn't run screaming and leave me behind. But no, he wouldn't do that. Pausing while I took pictures, we realized to our added horror that mosquitoes were taking the snake diversion as opportunity to murder us. We retreated.

Campfire time. Asimov dislikes the smoke, so I'll check back in later.