Bear Country

Montana might be Big Sky Country, but underneath all that big sky are bears. I guess conceptually I knew there were bears in this part of the country, but I didn't realize they were so much of a thing. 

Way back on May 30, I got an email from Delta Airlines with the subject "Update: Your Flight Schedule Has Changed." That meant instead of heading home after Higher Things at around noon on Saturday, I didn't leave Bozeman until 11:45 pm. In lieu of spending a couple hundred dollars in change fees, I figured I could tough it out and entertain myself. And remember: I know lots of Lutherans. Everywhere. Turns out Sam, a young lady whose Chicagoland congregation I hosted on a short-term team to Peru in February 2020 lives in Montana now and was willing to drive a few hours to see me. 

Bears were the theme of the day. Sam picked me up from my dorm at MSU around 12:30, and after hitting up a local bagel joint for lunch, we started at the Montana Grizzly Encounter. 

Meet Bella, rescued as an orphaned cub from the wilds of Alaska. She's now 8, weighs around 900 lbs., and stands between 7 1/2 and 8 ft. tall on her hind legs. 

As Sam put it, she's a combination of a puppy, a kitten, and a car. 

We spent about an hour watching her antics while listening to an oddly fascinating spiel with tips for hiking and camping in bear country and what to do if you see a bear in the distance or, worse, one approaches you. 

I couldn't imagine ever needing to know everything we were taking in until, after a scenic drive deep into Hyalite Canyon, we arrived at the Palisade Falls trailhead. The welcome sign had a bear warning! Although the likelihood of seeing a bear on the 3/4 mi., paved, highly trafficked trail were probably slim to none, I was on high alert the whole time.

I still had a couple hours until I needed to be at the airport after our hike, so we decided to wander the downtown corridor lined with shops and restaurants. Although I didn't eat there, I first learned of this chain bearing my name while in the Dayton, OH, area on home service last fall. We still didn't eat there, but this one's a lot closer to the actual Mackenzie River, Canada's longest, which slices through the Northwest Territories. 

One of several downtown art installations.

Read the plaque...

Eli the Elk agreed that we should get ice cream to eat while strolling the final few blocks. In keeping with the theme, one of my flavors was a chocolate blueberry concoction called Bear Scat.

I still got to the airport earlier than I needed to be, earlier than I could check in, even, but my bonus day was so much more pleasurable than it would have been alone, with my luggage in tow. Not many professions can say that their clients, of a sort, become friends, but one of the great blessings of that missionary Volunteer Coordinator life is that I can. Insert heart emoji here. I'll leave you with one final image that brought a smile to my face before embarking on a pretty terrible homeward bound itinerary and dreading the move that awaited me the very next day:

Until next time, blessings in Christ!