Bear-ly Worth Protecting

Vacation | Friendly | August 30, 2016

(My sister has invited me on a weekend trip with her and some of her friends. I don’t know a lot of them well so am a little withdrawn, but they draw me out of my shell even though I’m still a little awkward. They are a mishmash of people from different states; my sister and I are native Oregonians. One of these friends, Friend #1, is from Chicago, and is excited about all of the wildlife.)

Friend #1: *worriedly* “But what about bears?”

Me: “Bears are no big deal.”

Friend #1: “Really?”

Me: “Yeah, it’s not hard to scare them off.”

Friend #1: “That’s a relief!”

Friend #2: *from Montana* “Yeah, since Oregon has so few grizzlies, it’s not really too much of a concern. There are eight of us, after all. They wouldn’t try to mess with us.”

Friend #1: “Wait, really? The way [My Name] was talking, I thought that if we were attacked by a bear, she’d fight it off with her bare hands.”

Friend #2: “Yeah, I mean, she would probably scare it off by herself, but we should still stick together if we see one.”

Friend #1: *to me* “You were so confident that if we saw a bear, I was just going to hide behind you.”

Me: “…thank you?”

(I’m flattered that they think I could literally fight a bear, I guess?)

This story is part of the Wildlife roundup!