In Search of Bears in Alaska

Alpaca's love of bears is well-documented, notwithstanding the warnings from Stephen Colbert that bears are "The Number One Threat to America" and that bears are "Godless Killing Machines" (http://www.threatdowngenerator.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Notice). So naturally, when Alpaca's cruise ship was docked in Icy Straight Point (http://www.icystraitpoint.com/), he booked an excursion that virtually guaranteed that he would get prime bear viewing (http://www.icystraitpoint.com/excursions_bush_bear.html).

First up was a tour of the town. Ten seconds later, we had a tour of the dock. Ten seconds after that, we were on unpaved roads... not because we were going off into the wilderness, but because the town only has a few miles of unpaved roads, and it is between the "town" (using the term very loosely here, because it consists of 4 souvenir shops) and the docks (an additional 2 shops, including a grocery / general / clothing / hardware store). Then it was off to see the bears.

Alpaca was thrilled to have seen two bears while at Icy Straight Point, one snacking on salmon sashimi (see above - he dipped his little head in the water, came up with a fish and took it to the island in the middle of the frame to eat it), and the other rolling around on his back and playing in the middle of a field, next to where two bald eagles were perched. Very cute.