Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Last week Bill & I rented a cabin at the Zephyr Point Retreat Center on Lake Tahoe for a personal vacation. Its about the most perfect way I can imagine to experience Tahoe as its very low on the "Spend Money" scale.

Bill likes to get out and hike and see stuff. I prefer to sit on the porch and look at the water.

Last year I went to Zephyr point for the first time for a Interim Training conference which turned out to be a bit irritating as the conference leadership actually expected all of us to stay inside and pay attention to what they were lecturing on. So this year, it was unexpectedly disconcerting to arrive on a Friday with about three or four other Presbyterian groups and NOT dutifully walk down the hill to join in the kick off worship/lectures that were going on around the campus.

At any rate, it was a great week - with lots of little adventures (Fallen Leaf Lake is an amazing place!) but for one little thing.

On Sunday night, after everyone had cleared the campground, I was standing on the porch looking down toward Talac Lodge when I noticed something moving in the corner of my eye. This became one of those moments where the speed of thought becomes amazingly quick.

Second 0.1 - Hmmm, there is something moving down there
0.2 - hmm, its brown, and its bent over like its walking on four legs and...it is rather large. Larger than a cat. Larger then a dog. Wait...
0.3 - ITS A BEAR!
0.31 - ITS A BEAR AND THIS ISN'T A ZOO
0.32 - ITS A BEAR AND THIS ISN'T A ZOO WHICH MEANS THERE ARE NO BARS OR MOATS OR ANYTHING BETWEEN ME AND THAT BEAR EXCEPT THE DOOR OF MY CABIN
0.33 - ITS A BEAR AND BEARS HAVE CLAWS AND TEETH AND THEY ARE BIG AND THEY ARE HUNGRY AND THEY LIKE TO EAT AND I HAVE FOOD
0.34 - THE FRONT DOOR OF THE CABIN IS STANDING OPEN WITH JUST A SCREEN ON THE LATCH.
0.345 - move about twenty feet and close & lock the front door
0.4 - Run all over the cabin evaluating all possible entrances. Regret that we have Verizan phone service where apparently the guy in the geeky gray jacket and his thundering hoard got caught at the casinos in Stateline cuz there's no hearing me now at the retreat center.

That was the only time I saw the bear although we were pretty jumpy the rest of that night. There is an orphaned young one roaming the Zephyer Point grounds and the development next door to the south. It seems uninterested in human contact although some of the Tahoe Bears are now breaking into cabins and houses around the lake, through closed doors, to feat upon the refrigerator WHILE PEOPLE ARE INSIDE which is one of those things I wished I didn't know about while I was there.

All in all, bear sighting included, it was a great personal retreat week - and no silly songs with hand motions to endure just to earn it. Here is a sunset photo for your enjoyment: