B.B. & B......Blogger Buddies and Bears!!!

Hi everyone!



Sorry I haven' t blogged in a few days...we have been "on the road" again capturing U.P. photos of our wonderful color season here...and best of all....meeting another Blogger Buddy!!



Cathy Clementz, of Yooper Yarns graciously invited us over to her wonderful campground near Newberry, Michigan so that we could finally meet before she totally deserts us Yoopers leaves in a few weeks to go to North Carolina.

If you haven't been to her blog, make sure you click on both the campground link and her blog link above to check both out! Her blog always makes me smile with her stories of past and present adventures with her hubby, Dan...and she always comments on my blog and makes me laugh then too!



So, I packed my cooler of hotdogs, buns, hotdog sticks, pop, chips, coffee, towels, etc. etc. and off we went to go "camping" at her wonderful campground.



We were going to cheat, however, and not tent it or use a camper.



You see, she has a couple of comfy cabins and we opted to stay in there instead of "roughing" it.

(With age, comes wisdom).



I could hardly wait to get there...we knew we would love her and her husband Dan because her personality shines through all of her blogposts...along with her humor.



We weren't disappointed!!

Just LOOK at her cute face:
(She is on the left, and yours truly is on the right):

I took a wonderful photo of her and her husband Dan, too...but Dan is being shy and doesn't want me to post his picture here on the blog.

He probably didn't want to dazzle the ladies.

Whatever, DAN!!!

I will get you next time, my pretty...

Anyway, I digress...

We talked a bit and then toured her wonderful campground.

The color there is just beginning, but look what a nice place it is!:

We settled in the cutest cabin, and unpacked and then, upon her recommendation, we decided to go directly to nearby Oswald's Bear Ranch, because it was the last day it was going to be open for the season, and I wanted to get my camera on some bears!!

We recently saw a bear in the wild woods, but he ran away so quick, I didn't get a shot of him with my camera....so I didn't want to miss the opportunity to get some shots of bear again!!

But before I end this post with the shots of the trip to Oswald's Bear Ranch, I wanted to show you the morning after we stayed the night.

We had some COLD weather during the night...it got down in the 20 degree range!!!

I am NOT KIDDING.

Here is a shot of our adorable cabin when we woke up and saw that Mr. Frost had visited during the night:

The frost was so thick on our Blazer that I had to use a spoon to write this on the windshield:

We had plans to roast hotdogs and sit at the picnic table the night before, but by the time we got back from the Bear Ranch and had a yummy pizza with Cathy and Dan, it was TOO COLD!!

Just look at the frost on this picnic table!!:

But, despite the cold, we had a GREAT time staying in the cabin at her wonderful campground and chatting together. Isn't this world of blogging wonderful, when you get to meet folks who are genuine, caring and warm and you feel like instant friends when you get to meet in person?

Now, on to the Oswald Bear Ranch experience!:

When you get there, and pay at the office, they tell you there are several areas of fenced in parcels of bears, and you can walk the perimeters and see the bears in their natural habitat.

We liked that they were not stuck in tiny little cages and looked like they were well taken care of.

Only the baby bear cubs are kept in cages until they are big enough to "graduate" into the larger parcels of land where they can roam freely.

So, off we went around the first large fenced area..hiking and chatting in the beautiful autumn day.

Until my hubby grabs my arm and says.."Umm..don't get scared but look down!:

There on the path right in front of my right foot was THIS:

Oh, you say you want a CLOSE UP?

Well, alrighty then:

So of course I took his picture...because dang it...I was at the Bear Ranch to take pictures, after all!

We went all the way around the first enclosure without seeing a single bear.

I think they were in the middle of the woods having a kegger or something.

So off we went to hike around the second large enclosure.

Bingo! We saw our first lovely bear.

Wow!!!:

She was pretty big!

I saw more, but I couldn't get shots of them through the chain link fence..there are only a few spots where they cut out the links so you can put your camera in the holes and get clear photos.

But, I loved this Bear who was obviously into licking its own Icey:

For $5.00, you could get your picture with a bear cub.

I didn't want to make the little cub do stupid things for my benefit.

But another couple decided to go ahead and get their photo with the cub.

When they were done posing, they put Fruit Loops on the cub's belly and left it on the chair and it just sat there and ate off its stomach. (That will be what I look like in another five or ten years in my recliner, just sayin')....

Just look at this large bear just hangin' out over the culvert pipe:

And just look at this FACE!!!:

(I don't think I want to get that close in the woods to one, though.)

This guy is yawning and saying: "Geez, already, are you done yet with the dang photos? It is almost my dinner time, you know....!

So, we said goodbye to the bears and headed back over to Cathy's and Dan's again for the before-mentioned yummy pizza and an equally wonderful visit.

Thanks again, you guys for hosting us at your awesome campground...

it was so nice of you.

Now, when is it that you said you would come and visit us at Lake Michigamme??

As soon as you return from your North Carolina adventure, we hope....