It's Not Often You See Buffalo on the Beach

But I did on Friday! We went to Elk Island National Park and this was the first thing we saw after getting out of the car:



There were signs all over saying "Do Not Approach Bison". I filed that under 'Duh'.

It was a really pretty park with lakes and trails all over, here are the kids looking at the water with a friend of mine.



One of the lakes



We went for a walk along one of the walking trails and were on our way back to the playground when a freaking bison rounded the corner ahead on the trail, headed right for us. He was a ways down and my friend and I quickly discussed wtf to do and came up with "run into the bushes!" I scouted that he was indeed still on his way towards us, following the path and when he passed by us he paused and looked right at me. I averted my eyes, unsure if bison are infuriated by eye contact (oh I am laughing as I type that now! Next time- research bison confrontation and what to do before entering a wildlife park!) but he kept on going. After he left my DS asked "he was gonna eat us?" Uh, no. I cheerfully explained that bison like to be all by themselves and we left the trail to give Mr Bison lots of room but that bison do not eat people but might make angry noises to scare us away. Then hurried back to the playground, which was thankfully bison-free except my friends' DD ran through 2 bison plops then climbed on her mom's seat in the car.