One of the reasons to visit New England is to witness the wildlife.
The locals would regularly tell me they see bears all the time and how they constantly had to swerve for Moose on the roads. To them it was no big deal, but for me, I had never seen a Bear in the wild or a Moose...anywhere!
Until......
One sunny afternoon as we drove back to our B&B we noticed a few people standing outside their cars snapping away with their cameras. Jonny and I quickly jumped out the car to see what was going on.
I squinted my eyes to try and focus on the spectacle in the woods in the near distance.
'It's a Bear' screamed a lady standing next to me. 'A Bear with two baby cubs'
I squinted my eyes a little more, and finally I began to see the vision in the distance. A black mother Bear with her two small baby cubs. I kept laughing in disbelief, pointing and yelling at Jonny wanting him to see what I could see.
The two little cubs were rolling around jumping on each other, playing near their mother who just stood and sniffed the air. Eventually the mother must have sensed people were watching and they all stumbled deeper into the woods.
What a buzz that gave me. Seeing animals in their habitat, in the wild is an amazing experience. It fills me with such excitement and joy.
Jonny and I decided before we left New England we had to see a Moose. So that evening we were on a mission to hunt down a Moose and shoot one..with a camera of course!!
We set off at dusk and drove north of our lodgings in the cold, dark, evening in the Fall. Jonny with his camera at his side and me a torch.
We were advised to shine the torch into the woods, 'When you see two small shiny lights, that will be the Moose's eyes glowing from the darkness into the light.' advised the locals.
As we drove for hours, I shone the torch out of the window into the darkness, however nothing stirred in the isolated dark cold terrain.
In search of glowing eyes we kept driving and driving, there must be a Moose in the woods somewhere!
Nothing! Feeling the cold wind fiercely penetrate my face, hands and fingers I couldn't search any longer. Jonny tired from the driving in the darkness also felt defeated.
We turned the car round and took the long drive back in the pitch blackness of the night utterly gutted! We both relied on the radio to entertain us. (Not so sure about the 'Ha oooo Werewolves in London' track though by Warren Zevon!)
Then suddenly Jonny slammed his foot on the brake, something was on the road, something big.
'What is it?' Jonny shouted 'What the hell is it Maria?'
As our eyes adjusted to the darkness, that's where it stood. The tall brown, New England Moose.
'It is a Moose' I cried, 'at last a Moose!'
Jonny fumbled for his camera, but it was too late, the Moose quickly ran back into the woods.
I wheeled my window down and shone the torch into the darkness of the woods, 'where are you?' I whispered 'where are those eyes of yours?'
Suddenly two shiny bright white eyes sparkled in the night, my little moose was looking straight at me! She just stood there partly hidden by the trees and the darkness, but I could see her. Her face, her ears twitching, her eyes staring straight at me, they just kept glowing in the darkness, she was an inquisitive thing, she wouldn't move, she wasn't afraid, but intrigued by us, as we were of her.
It was a beautiful creature and a beautiful moment.
Mission accomplished we headed back to our beds, safe in the knowledge we would sleep content that night.
The next morning we were both raring to go and sat down to our first home cooked hot breakfast, made for us by the owner of the B&B.
'Mmmm sausages, I haven't eaten sausages in ages, they taste so good' I thought.
'I hope you like your sausages' said the lady, 'it's Moose!'
