Back to Nature

I finally returned to the vacation spot that I loved as a child. I hadn't been back in 24 years but it felt like home again although there were a lot of changes.

My parents used to take us camping and fishing almost every Summer near the small town of Bridgeport, California. Just off Highway 395 and into the Eastern Sierra Nevada range are the Twin Lakes that I love. My father taught me how to fish and my mother taught me how to clean them. This is a little bit of paradise to me so I was thrilled when Dear Handyman suggested that we spend a week fishing and camping.

My first surprise was how dry the mountains were. When we arrived there was no snow pack on the peaks and the water level was low. The locals told us that it had been two years of almost no snowfall. While we were there they had the first two storms of the season.

My second surprise was how tame the deer were around the campgrounds. They would come up to the campsites and eat out of your hands if you offered them food.

Most of the time we saw females with their young but once there was a group of three bucks feeding in the next campsite. They all seemed so cute and friendly at the time.

The weather was unpredictable with days of blustery winds, heavy rain and surprising storms dropping snow on both the higher peaks and around our campsite. It was all just so awesome.

We only had one day of great fishing and Dear Handyman did really well.

The most surprising story of this entire trip happened on our last day there. We had walked out to the grassy peninsula situated between two docks to enjoy the sunshine.

While we sat and enjoyed the sunshine a group of people came out to the peninsula to have a picnic. The food attracted the deer and soon a small herd was standing between us and the only way off of the peninsula.

My dog Carly was fascinated by the deer but we were told that the deer can be very dangerous to dogs if they felt threatened. The doe must have felt threatened because she came walking over to protect her young. Dear Handyman had control of the leash so he was trying to get Carly off of the peninsula and away from the deer. I stood between them to try and scare off the mother but she came closer until we were about five feet apart. I was basically eye-to-eye with a mother deer trying to protect her young. Luckily we were able to get Carly off of the peninsula and nothing happened but I'm not sure what I would have done if the doe attacked. Now I can say that I've stared down a coyote AND a protective doe.

What an amazing vacation with all kinds of wild weather and wild animals. It is great to be home although I am mentally still on vacation. Even the local weather feels like Autumn since we've returned.