Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Just a Walk in the Park for Squares
While in Hawaii I amassed thousands of steps on my Fitbit. It was not a chore but a delight, as walking in good weather with gorgeous scenery usually is.
Since our return to Seattle, we’ve had nothing but rain. Rain, rain, and more rain. It was welcomed at first, to end the long summer drought and smokey skies and wildfires in the mountains nearby.
But I’m already weary of it and somewhat dreading months of the same until spring.
Even so, I’m determined to walk, whether on the treadmill at the gym (I finally returned after covid) but hopefully outside as well.
Earlier this week we went for a walk at Nolte State Park in between rain showers and the air was fresh and clean and filled with the fragrance of fall leaves.
We saw interesting trees and stumps and lichens and mushrooms
and lovely reflections in the lake.
I’m sharing this post for Becky’s Walking Squares Challenge and for that reason all of my photos are squares.
I’m so happy to have her back in the blogosphere.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
These are all so great. I’m really loving your trail and your last photo with the reflection 😀 😀
Thanks so much! There’s nothing like a walk in the woods! 🙂
Oh this is a beautiful walk in the park, and they’ve proved walking in rain is good for us so hopefully you’ll go again!
Thank you so much! 🙂 Good to hear! We do quite a bit of walking in the rain, out of necessity. 😉 I don’t always look forward to it, but I always enjoy it. 🙂
😊
Very nice photos, Susanne. It has been raining here all day too, and cold as well.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks, Pete. The temperature has really dropped here too and it feels like winter is on the way. But at least its not raining – yet. Even so, we are bundling up and heading out for a walk. 😊
Nothing “square” about a walk in the woods!
Yes indeed! 😁
Very beautiful photos, Susanne! What a change for you guys from a tropical environment to northwest rain. It kind of sounds like you want to move to a warmer, dryer climate.
Thanks! 😊 I went from tropical rainforest to plain old rain-forest! I don’t think I could live outside the Pacific NW, but being a snowbird wouldn’t be too bad!
You feel like I do about Michigan, it will always be my true home. Call me a snowbird!
Great photos Susanne. Love the fungi and the reflections in the lake.
Thanks so much, Graham. Typical Northwest woods. 😊
Nice mushrooms.
😊😊
Gorgeous photos, Susanne. I’ve never been to Nolte Park. What part of Seattle is it in. It is so natural. When I was there I walked around Greenlake on a regular basis. 🙂
Thanks, Marsha. I lived near Greenlake for many years but now live in Renton, just south of Seattle. Nolte is southeast of Seattle 45 minutes or so, past Maple Valley in a rural area. Rather hidden unless you know about it.
When we headed south on I 5 we, we didn’t stop much until we got back to Portland. Pretty dull! We missed all the good inbetween stuff. Thanks for sharing it. Gorgeous place, Susanne!
Understandable! So much to see! So little time! 🙂 🙂
Exactly! Even now in retirement, there’s so much to see and so little time. Thank goodness for virtual walks like yours!
I go to the gym often, but I prefer being outdoors in nature.
Me too. I love walking outside but when the weather gets rough I’m okay going to the gym. Just trying to get my steps in whenever and wherever I can.
The toppled tree is so iconic of the forests in your neck of the woods. Hiking in the Olympic Peninsula gave me my first glimpse of fragile giants felled by wind and rain. I loved every one of your square images.
Thank you so much! I too love the woods in our state, and am happy when they’re left as nature intended including fallen and decaying trees and stumps.
How pretty! It just dawned on me that I don’t remember the last time I took a walk in the woods! And Fresno isn’t that far from several different forests. 🤔
Thank you! I love walking in the woods! Fresno is on the way to Sequoia and King’s Canyon, right? We wanted to go there last spring on our way to S. Cal but snowy weather prevented us!
Yes, and we aren’t far from Yosemite either. Even the small town of Oakhurst is only about 45 minutes, and it’s on the foothills and seems “mountany” when you go there.
Sounds wonderful! Better get your walking shoes on! 👟
Yep, my “Silver Sneakers”😂
Same color as mine!! 😁
Lovely squares – those fungi are very impressive!
Thanks so much, Sarah! Lots of interesting things to see in the woods!