YELLOWSTONE

YELLOWSTONE

22 May, 2014

Osaka, Japan

In 1960, one of my favorite TV programs was Yogi Bear, a cartoon  show about a bear who's always hungry and pesters campers at Jellystone Park. Nine years later I found myself actually visiting the real Yellowstone National Park. 

I had never seen a bear before in my life, except on TV, of course. Yellowstone, it seems, is a hot bed of bear activity. If you want to see bears, you'll get your fill of them at that park. 

My mother, grandfather, grandmother, and I had been camping cross-country, all the way to Lake Louise in western Canada.

Somewhere on that trip, Yellowstone figured prominently . I knew this was going to be one of the highlights of our jaunt the moment we entered the park. 

There was a delegation of brown bears out in force on the road to greet the throngs of turistas, and once the furry bruins made their appearance, traffic ground to a near standstill. 

We enjoyed our close encounter with them immensely, and then continued down the road to our designated campsite. 

The next morning my grandfather and I walked down to the bathhouse for a shower. My mother soon followed. This left my grandmother alone at the tent.

She was frying eggs on a Coleman gas stove just under the front flap of the tent, on the left side.

As my  Grandpa and I were returning from the bathhouse, we stopped in our tracks: there was a young BEAR very close to our tent,     approaching it non-chalantly from the right. My grandmother didn't see it because it was coming up from behind her.

We didn't want to tell her to turn around for fear that she'd be frightened to death, or do something to cause the young bear to attack. So I called out from where I had stopped, to my grandmother to come look at something. 

"I'm busy right now, Darling ," she said, knocking on the side of the pan with the spatula. 

"But," I protested, "you've GOT to come see this!!"

"Not now, Shuggs, I'm cooking breakfast..."

I needed to be more forceful - for her own good, I thought: "Please, you REALLY NEED to SEE this!"

"Oh, all right," she replied reluctantly, "What IS it? Make it quick - the food will burn..." She admonished as she left her post and came over to where we were. 

I pointed in the direction of the tent and said: "LOOK!

Seeing the little brown bear right at the front of our tent, where she has been just seconds before, my grandmother gasped "OH! Oh, my GOODNESS!!!"

With that, my grandfather and I began to shout, whistle, clap our hands, and, and throw sticks and stones at the hapless creature, who immediately beat a hasty retreat into the woods. All he wanted was some of my grandmother's cooking,  and I can't say as I blame him one bit!!

My mother came upon the scene to see us chasing the poor little bear away from the tent site, and wondered what in the WORLD was going on.

Afterwards, when my mother enquired if we were all right, I told her that no harm came to anyone. The only thing was - that I was rather embarrassed.

"Whatever for??" my mother asked, baffled.

"It's just that," I admitted, "well, it's just that I saw my grandmother ...with a BEAR BEHIND!!"