I really never thought that I’d add racoons to a growing list of animals I greatly fear, but such is the case since our day at Lighthouse Park. Alex and I set off for West Van early in the morning a few Fridays ago, with our cameras and a few outfits in tow. The morning had been quite overcast and the sun broke through just as we reached the stunning rock formations at the water. It was my second time soaking in the views from the water at Lighthouse Park and I was, once again, blown away by its beauty. Feeling inspired by our surroundings, we began photographing our first looks on the large middle rock. Our things were stored in between two rock formations and dangerously close to the water’s edge. To our complete surprise, we had the beach to ourselves for the first few hours that day, with only some boaters and paddle boarders waving from the water. That was, until I changed out of this casual look into a much fancier floor length dress.
Taking my sandals off, I then stuffed my purse into the large reusable tote that was sloppily housing my clothing and accessories for the day. Trying to balance myself in this crevice between two rocks, as I put on my statement earrings, a movement caught my attention from the water. There it was, the very last creature I would have expected to see in that moment. A raccoon, who seemed to have appeared out of thin air, stood a foot away from me and started edging closer. I screamed and began to clumsily retreat, as Alex chuckled and calmly inquired about the fuss. “It’s A RACOON!” I shrieked as I pushed past her, clutching only my sunglasses, floppy hat, and dress hem. Alex lifted her arms tall above her head, stood with her legs apart and roared at the racoon, as she began carefully moving away as well. It was too late. It was already rummaging through my things, while I ran away, looking oh-so-glamorous, regretting that I’d left everything of value with a racoon. And quite frankly, this racoon felt about as intimidated by us as I would a golden retriever puppy. Alex kept me calm as we watched it toss around our things, clearly a modern day hunt for food. Thankfully we didn’t have even a crumb of food in our bags, and it sauntered away towards another rock formation.
I always thought racoons were adorable until I witnessed a family of them attacking my friends cat in high school. They weren’t scared of us as we threw things at them, attempting to fend them off while they hissed and lunged at us with their claws. All I could picture was this racoon scratching the heck out of us as we were isolated on this beautiful beach. My heart wouldn’t stop pounding and I kept a “weapon” (a flimsy branch) nearby at all times. Even though we had a seemingly dramatic brush with danger, we had more things to photograph and continued on with our work. We were lucky that all the racoon seemed to do was place my sandals neatly side by side and rip a giant hole in my tote bag. An outcome that helped us feel even sillier than we already did about our wildlife encounter. At least the photos turned out, I just regret that in the chaos, we didn’t get a picture of the racoon!
Photos by To Vogue Or Bust
Striped Skater Dress (similar)
Long White Vest c/o Gentle Fawn (similar)
Classic Durham 36mm Watch c/o Daniel Wellington
Sandals from Joe Fresh (similar)
