!i! Bear World !i!

A few miles south of Rexburg, ID is a place called Bear World.   Over Memorial Day weekend, AJ and I went there to explore.  I had been there as a little girl when it first opened, but AJ had never been there before.  Bear World is a wild animal park filled with Bears.  You drive through the park in your vehicles (windows rolled up, of course) and there are bears everywhere.  It was so much fun!

The first of the bears were the Grizzly Bears.  They were kept behind fences because they are larger and more aggressive.

The rest of the park was filled with Black Bears.  They are a little bit smaller and they roam free.  In fact, they tell you when you enter the park to keep at a slow and steady pace because the bears are known to come right up to the car and even bite and pop the tires.

There are a few other animals in the park too including deer, moose, and wolves.

Since it was springtime, it meant there were Bear Cubs!  I think the bear cubs were my very favorite part.  If you get to the park early enough, you can sign up to bottle feed the babies, but they were sold out when we got there.  I was so disappointed!

The cubs were so small and playful.  They were so much fun to watch.  There were about six or seven of them.  Once they get big enough, they will let them roam free with the other bears in the park.

Even though feeding the cubs was sold out, we were able to sign up to feed the big bears.  We climbed up in the back of a high truck and every few people got a special tray of "bear food."  As I looked down , I noticed bear claw scratches all over the side of the truck we were standing in.  I thought to myself "this could be interesting."

First, we fed the deer.  They got dried grass cubes.  Then we fed the Grizzly bears.  They got to eat Powdered sugar donuts.  Hmmm...that actually doesn't sound so bad.  Then it was time to feed the black bears which were the majority of the bears in the park.  And you better believe those bears knew we were coming.

We fed the black bears bread pieces.

I looked down and realized where the claw marks on the side of the truck came from.

Those bears were so smart!  They knew exactly where the truck would stop and the same bears even beat us there!  They had even created little path that they followed that they knew would lead them to the next feeding stop.

 Some had developed tricks.  This one learned how to wave in order to get more food.

Bear World also has a little petting zoo.  AJ was so excited to pet the gigantic pig!

After Bear World, we traveled back to Pocatello which was where we were staying.  We visited Idaho Falls which is a cute city.  I wanted to see what the "Falls" were.

 Once we got back to Pocatello, we hiked Red Hill.  The hike was relatively short, but very beautiful once we arrived at the top.

Below us is Idaho State University which is one of the schools AJ is looking at for physical therapy .  One of the things I remember most about that trip is the feeling of peace I felt about this upcoming year of transition for us.  I know that God will put us in the right place and we will be happy where we go.  Up until that point, I didn't even want to think about moving away for three years.  It still scares me, but I can face it now.  We will find out soon enough.