[reason 236] friends who save you from bears

 

And then joke about it afterwards!

I woke up sometime after 2AM to the sound of someone or something trying to get into the tent set up just inches from where I was all cozy in bed. My first thought was that Onyx forgot a charger or something and was retrieving it from our "hang out" tent. And then I heard the sound of a tent pole breaking. 

I grabbed my phone, called Onyx, whose number I had readily available, and informed them that there was a bear trying to get in our other tent, instructing them to wake up the parents of the friend in whose tent they were staying at the campsite next door to mine. Onyx did so, and they saved the night by turning on their car and honking their horn and shining lights into my campsite. 

It took me a minute to get shakily out of bed once I heard David's voice. The bears were nowhere to be seen. 

Onyx and Finn took refuge in Finn's family's camper, and they decided to spend the night safe and sound behind closed doors. I retreated to my van, not really ever getting back to sleep. A little while after we all called it a night, we were back out investigating a sighting of mama bear and four cubs nearby. 

Assured they were again out of sight, everyone slept as well as they could. For me, that was not at all. 

Investigating the damage as soon as it was light enough to see, I discovered that the inside of the tent was undisturbed, except for a pair of shorts that had been pulled from the floor of the tent below one of the rips and abandoned next to the tent. Onyx had spilled salad dressing on them the day before - and the dressing was so strong that I'd opened the door to the van where Onyx was eating the salad and exclaimed that it smelled incredibly strongly like salad in there. Perhaps the bears just like chipotle ranch dressing.

Onyx's theory is that perhaps they just didn't want to be bear-naked anymore.

Thank you, Millers, for coming to my rescue, for providing shelter and comfort to my child, and for all the help you've given us since the moment we arrived. 

And for having a good sense of humor about the bears!

The lighters pictured at the top were picked out by Finn ... because bears ... and relax.