Bearly Escaped (Pun TOTALLY Intended)

Well today I almost lost my life.

Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration...but let me tell you a little story.

This is the story of a girl. An innocent 17 year old young lady who wanted nothing more than to find happiness in the grand adventures she planned to have on her "relaxing" trip to visit her great aunt in the mountains. We'll call her Olivia.

Chapter One: Morning
Olivia woke up on the morning of July 18th happy as a snail (because snails are really happy creatures). She glanced out her window at the beaming sun rays and took a deep breath as she prepared to take on another day. After an average morning, she set off on a mission to retrieve the mail from the post office and since that seemed an errand too ordinary, she decided to do a little shopping in town. She bought a few trinkets for family and friends and even got to go into a bookstore. Now Olivia is one of those people who loves to read and owns way more books than she has ever read, so bookstores are her happy place, and entering one seemed to brighten her whole outlook on life. Things seemed to be going up for Livy. Little did she know the afternoon would take a deadly turn...

Chapter Two: Danger at the Door
While Olivia had been out running her own errands and feeling quite contented, her great aunt had been at home, stressing over many things that need not be specified. So, the pair of them decided to go into Grand Teton National Park to take a detox walk around Jenny Lake. However, because of complications with the original trail, a new trail had been constructed (unbeknownst to them) that took them up a mountain above the lake. The trail, new and nearly uncharted it seemed, went right through what looked like perfect bear territory. As the two were walking up the tortuous (not torturous) trail, three runners came jogging down the trail, bearing with them the warning that they had seen a bear up the trail but it was going up the hill to the side of the trail. Now...one would think that after such a warning, the two women would have turned back, but they did the opposite. They kept on trekking along the path, bear spray in hand, complaining very loudly of the tough inclines and singing about whatever they could think of (attempting to keep the bears away). Fun fact, Livy's aunt actually has a very limited mental music library so she kept singing the song that the dwarfs sing on their way to work in Snow White over and over again. Nonetheless, either the magnificent singing or the very potent aura of terror kept the bear at bay and the pair made it back without once even seeing the beast. They stopped off at a boat drop off area so Olivia could get in the water (she has a freshwater fetish) and the experience served as a detox for the "detox" hike gone wrong.

Chapter Three: Stayin' Alive
Olivia could have sat on that rock in the middle of the lake for ages upon ages and never have been bored, what with the rushing waterfall breaking the peaceful silence of the mountain air and the outlines of the Tetons becoming silhouettes in the setting sun. However, at some point everyone has to let go of those moments to get back to reality, so after many minutes of taking pictures and gazing longingly at the unreachable beauty of the surrounding scenery, Olivia and her aunt set off on their way home. They stopped at a burger joint, and though neither of them were very hungry after the evening's events and the peanut butter sandwiches they consumed in the midst of them, they shared a salted caramel milkshake and some sweet potato fries. The perfect ending to an exciting day.

And they all lived happily ever after.

Emma Kay T.