Two Little Bears

We went to Captain Cook State Park, which is 10 miles from our house and the end of the road here on the Kenai Peninsula.  Basically, you get a great view of the ocean and can hike about 2.5 miles along the beach.  We approached the view/picnic area and something smelled terrible.  I was looking around for dead fish and looked down to see something brown moving just 5 feet below me.  Upon further inspection, I saw this:

If you can't tell, there are 2 brown bear cubs.  They were gnawing on a fish, but not getting too far.  One man guessed they were maybe 3 months and that they were still nursing and did not know how to eat yet.  We have been warned more than enough times that where there's a baby, there's a mom.  Doug promptly tossed us in the back of the car and proceeded to snap shots with his camera.  He warned others who were nearby and considering hiking.  Everyone jumped in their car and drove away.  It seems that at least once a week the paper has a story about someone being attacked by a brown bear (they are called grizzly bears in other places).  A woman came back and told us she had called Fish and Game and the bears had been there a week and no one had spotted mom for a few days.  So then there was a large crowd, all very leery, taking pictures of the bears.  We also spotted a bush where we suspected they had been bedding down.  The bears wandered off down the beach.
Doug followed.  I was not happy that he tossed us in the car for safety and then stayed only a few feet from the bears.  Had mom appeared, he would have been dinner.  There are people who live here their whole lives and never see bears.  We called one of the pharmacy techs and teased her because she has lived here 9 years and never seen a bear and really wants to.  We had only been here a month and had seen 2 bears already.  She wasn't happy.  Come to find out later, her daughter and uncle were the people standing right beside us.

They do have awful cute baby foot prints.

After that, we went on a short hike along the Swanson River.  It is a great canoeing river where you can take multiple day trips.  Brenden loves to pick me flowers, and here he is with it in his mouth.