Ten writers for children. All with something to say.

9/10/13

Another Summer Gone Too Soon


Around these parts, living on Whidbey Island, summer means sailing.  This year we spent plenty of time on the water—playing on beaches and in driftwood forts, catching Dungeness crab, and even discovering a few new anchoring spots (after all these years!)—but we also took some other road trips.  The best of these involved a visit to Glacier National Park where we were blessed with glorious weather, gorgeous scenery, and plenty of wildlife sightings.  Mountain sheep, goats, marmots, a coyote—every turn in the road seemed to bring a new critter to photograph and marvel at. 


The weather was in the 90s on our journey so there were plenty of stops to swim in rivers, lakes, and swimming pools, but the highlight of the trip (if you ask our son) was when we were walking our dog Skipper along Canyon Creek in NE Washington (on our way to Montana).  Ben and I had been talking about the possibility of encountering bears, and he had just finished reading a What To Do If You Encounter a Bear brochure we had picked up at a tourist information kiosk.  As we walked along the trail and Ben started making nonsense noises (“The brochure said to make noise when you’re in the woods, Dad”) we heard a branch snap in the woods and Ben said, “It’s probably a bear!”  “It’s probably not,” I replied.  “I’m going to check it out,” said Ben, stepping a few yards off the trail, into the woods.  A moment later he turned back to me, eyes wide, and said, “I just saw a bear!”  “No, you didn’t,” I said, figuring he was just trying to get a rise out of Daddy.  So I stepped off the trail and looked in the direction he indicated.  I saw something black amongst the tree trunks maybe twenty yards away.  Probably some abandoned piece of mining equipment, I reckoned (such junk/artifacts littered the area).  Then the black “thing” turned its head, and I said, “THAT’S A BEAR!”  We backtracked to our vehicle, hearts racing and smiles plastered on our faces….


Momma had to work, so she was not with us on this particular trip.  Although she was sad to miss all the Glacier sights, she was just fine with missing our bear encounter!



Summer vacation ended last week, but the memories will last a lifetime.  And now it’s time to return to writing….

6 comments:

Lauren said...

Wow! The photos and the stories-- what a great summer you had Mark! And a bear too!
I agree, the summer was over too soon.

Stephanie said...

Sounds like an amazing summer. I do not envy you the bear encounter...

Edie Hemingway said...

Sounds like a wonderful summer and exciting adventures, Mark--more fodder for your writing. And it's fun to see your son grow up in the pictures you've posted over the past few years.

john said...

Mark, Glacier is one of my favorite parks and I appreciate your sharing your stories. What a great trip for you and Ben. It is one you both will remember for good.

Christy said...

Beautiful! You and your son will always have that incredible memory together. This incident does seem like it should work its way into a book somehow.

David LaRochelle said...

I agree with Edie, it's been fun watching your son grow up with each summer's recap of photos. How wonderful that the two of you can spend time like this together in such beautiful places.