Mike and the Momma Bear

Apologies for getting behind ... again ... on this. Here's some photos and a few words more -- more or less in the order in which they occurred.

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.

Sunset at Little Switzerland, NC. At first I thought what an overblown name, but it's very pleasant there. Very much like Trapp Family Lodge is a little bit of Austria.

It was at the pool here that Mike saw a momma bear with two cubs about 40 feet away. He was sitting by the pool. I was in it and couldn't get out in time. I stood quietly for about half an hour afterwards trying to pick up their movement through the nearby woods. Some motorcyclists also staying at the lodge in Little Switzerland (actually the town's name ... population about 150 year round -- as much as 400 in the summer) coming back were the cause of the bears disappearing into the trees ... but not before the bikers saw them, too. One waiter at the adjoining restaurant has lived there six years and never seen a bear.

I also met a very thoughtful young woman who worked at the desk of the lodge. She is starting online graduate school this fall. No big deal, you say? She's the first in her family to graduate from high school. That's correct. No typo. High school. Chew on that for a while. Her father, in particular, is not happy about her "getting educated." He does not understand why she's doing this. I suggested to her that he might be afraid of all the things he doesn't know about this undertaking and that he's losing his daughter. (His wife, her mother, died just about two years ago.) On the other hand, as I mentioned to her, his work is done. He raised a great young woman. It's time for her to leave the nest. Other reasons for his position will have occurred to you, I'm sure. And those probably factor in, also.