Out of control bears and people

Sister in law Mary, Daisy and I hiked to Mirror Lake on a beautiful Yosemite Day. Halfway up the hill to Mirror Lake, we began to meet people who said there's a bear up there.

Gradually the story of a young bear with no fear of people approaching the crowd at the lake unfolded, told by one hiker after another. The bear came down to the lake filled with swimmers and made off with a backpack.

We approached with caution, having been told he left with his booty and wanting our own view of Mirror Lake that day. As we reached our destination, he hit the backpacks again, making off with one.

Children and adults alike ran after him. Children, for heavens sake, who would make a tidy little snack. I do not understand the phenomena. What were their parent's thinking? In this photo, the bear is just a blur right over the fence where children are standing. And note the people in the photos running to, not away from, the bear.

We had a lovely three days in Merced and Yosemite with Mary, relaxing in her home, taking a day trip to Yosemite, much more crowded than last week. Carl says if we exit another way, we will have taken all four approaches to the park. Another life list, I guess.
Mary found us a groomer for Daisy, who needs it a lot, and a masseur for Carl. Before Carl experienced the magic of the masseur, I had a foot detox from him. Don't ask me why, but in 30 minutes, the foot bath with an ionizer in it had turned three colors of brown, green and black. All that coming from my feet! I think I will try to find such a thing for a weekly detox when I get home.

After we left Mary's we went 20 minutes away to Attwater to see Misty and Tom Armstrong; she's Carl's niece. Misty is an absolute sweetie. They own a pet store, which Daisy browsed and ate. She tells all about it in her blog. Tom and Misty picked us up in her mini cooper for dinner, and then we spent the night at Castel Museum RV park, little more than a parking lot with an electric plug. It's on old air force base property and overlooks an air force plane museum. Let me tell you, this valley is one hot puppy. The San Joaquin valley, America's fruit basket, reached 100 today. Could be worse. Elsewhere, Houston Texas has an air quality alert, the worst in history.