Living the Dream

Two weekends ago I went for a walk in Irvine Park with my girlfriend Justine and her cousin Anna. We spent our time enjoying the warm sunshine and avoiding scattered pieces of dog manure along the road. One of my new life goals is to someday donate signs to Irvine Park telling people to clean up after their pets.

Anyways, one of the most amazing moments happened to me. As we walked by the Elk, I noticed that they were all near the fence. Cautiously, I approached them. There were three: the older male, the female, and a young male with small stubs for antlers. As I went on the other side of a tree, the younger elk moved so that I was still in its site path. I thought this was curious so I moved to the other side of the tree. He moved his head to the other side of the tree again like we were playing a cross-species game of peek-a-boo. This went on for roughly 30 seconds before I decided to walk away along the fence. As I did so, the young elk actually followed me. And as the young elk followed me, the female and male (with considerably large antlers) followed right behind. This sparked an idea. I started to jog....the elk jogged.....I then I ran....they ran alongside.....I changed directions and ran back to where I started......they all ran with me. It was one the most breathtaking things that has ever happened. I almost felt at one with nature as I ran with the somewhat wild beasts.

After a couple of laps, I was too tired to continue so I had to walk away. Justine and Anna were waiting for me completely embarrassed and acting of course like they had no idea who I was. What a day, what an experience. An exhilaration of a lifetime.