There is just something magical about Yosemite. It’s not just special to me but to my whole
family. As a child I spent many of my
vacations in Yosemite. I knew it pretty
well. I loved watching my kids discover
Yosemite and fall in love with it as I had.
We were spending a few days in Yosemite in the
fall. Our camp was set up and the older
kids were free to wander. The standing
rule was never go where you can’t see our camp.
Heidi, Robin, and Adam began to explore.
I noticed them looking at a couple spots near some bushes.
The kids checked out the river and called to horses
stabled across the river. Then they went
back to the spots they’d previously been studying. After a few minutes I went to them curious to
see what they’d found. As I approached I
called ahead, “What are you guys looking at?”
Adam looked at me grinning. I know he was remembering how I’d hide or bury
failures from the kitchen in the fields.
The kids had discovered piles of something that looked like my Goulash
Casserole. Adam blurted out, “Looks like
somebody made a big pot of your Goulash, nobody like it and they all dumped
their plates over here. It must have
been a lot because it’s everywhere!”
They were poking at the piles with sticks trying to
identify the ingredients. Adam said, “It
looks kind of like that stuff you make us eat!”
We
all stared and bent in for a closer look.
The only thing I could really identify was what looked like chunks of
apples.
Slowly I realized just what
it was the kids were poking with sticks.
I said, “What’s across the river growing in those apple trees?” They all answered at the same time, “Apples.” I said, “What eats apples and lives in Yosemite?” They
all looked like I’d ask them to solve the hardest puzzle of the universe. There was silence as each waited for the
other to answer. Then all three of them,
at the same time, answered, “Bears.”
They still hadn’t quite caught on to what they were playing
with until I said, “So, bears in Yosemite eat
apples when they are ripe. They eat lots
of apples. They eat apples until there
are no more apples to eat. What happens
when you eat too many apples?”
Heidi and Robin realized at the same moment what I was
suggesting. They screamed, “Bear poop!”
at the same time and backed away like it was poison. Adam continued poking at the piles trying to
find out what else the bears might be eating.
It had to be a boy – girl difference.
The girls wouldn’t go near it again.
Adam, on the other hand, claimed the bear poop as one of his grand
discoveries while on that Yosemite trip.
