Bear Story

So today Richard and I were sitting in front of the Raptor Center waiting for a bus to pull up. All of a sudden we hear a big rustling from behind the building, and my first thought is "Goddamn that must be a giant dog - I can't believe peo..." and then, from no more than twenty feet away, comes galloping a HUGE FREAKING BEAR. This was no 400lb youngster. It stood probably 4.5-5 feet tall on all fours and must have weighed a cool 900lbs. It was the biggest bear I've seen anywhere, including zoos, but not including polar bears. It just kind of looked at us and kept running into the forest behind Boris. All the birds flipped out simultaneously, and I ran inside yelling something along the lines of "HolyshitfuckfuckfuckjesusfuckingchristBEARBEARBEAR." Of course there were three tourists inside already to whom I apologized profusely.

I was totally shaken up for the rest of the day and could not concentrate on talking if I had my back to the woods. I kept losing my train of thought and whipping around at the smallest noise from behind Boris. Major props to Richard for doing an entire presentation literally three minutes after having the bejeesus scared out of us.