One of the Coolest Things Ever

I do not live in the wilderness.  Although, as of late, I've seen and heard of more wildlife in my neighborhood than I would care to admit. . .do tasers work on coyotes?!  So, my biggest hope for our Alaska trip was that we would see some wildlife in nature.  Don't get me wrong, I love me some zoo, but there is something awe inspiring about seeing a critter in its natural habitat. . .from a safe distance, of course!

On the Thursday that we were in Alaska, we journeyed south-ish down toward Seward along the Turnagain Arm.  It was a really pretty drive.  The mountains just kind of rise out of the water.  They were snow-capped and beautiful.  We stopped in a couple of places so we could hike or take pictures.  My favorite was the hike that we took pretty early in our journey.

City slickers on the trail!  Cora wanted to walk, and I'm glad that we let her walk for the first part of the trail.  You'll see why I'm so glad later in the post.  We were told by some hikers that a couple of moose were hanging out near the trail.  And sure enough, after about 15 minutes, we stumbled upon

this young bull (I think!  Remember, I'm a city girl!!)  And, this

big guy.  They were both pretty oblivious to the paparazzi that had swarmed around them in the form of my family.  Somewhere along the way, Cora had retired to the stroller.  And,  I am so thankful for that because a short time later while we were still furiously taking pictures of the coolest thing we'd seen so far, a hiker who passed by casually asked us if we had gotten some pictures of the bear.  THE BEAR!!  Excuse me??!!  We ventured a few more feet around a curve in the trail, and sure enough, there was a momma black bear foraging on the trail.  SO COOL!

So as we furiously took pictures of the momma bear, she caught sight of us.  And, then, an even cooler thing happened, her cubs scampered up a tree right by the trail.  Three baby cubs and a momma all within 100 feet of us!

This is the best picture I have of the cubs, but isn't he a cutie?!  The others are a little higher in the tree.  Without a doubt, this was my very favorite thing that happened in Alaska.  How often do you get to see a bear, much less a bear and three cubs?!  

We commemorated the event with this family picture.

Of course, Cora was thrilled to take the picture!  But, what a great day!