Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Sweet Sleeping Benji
I’m taking a few days off from the blog but here’s a picture of the sweet Benji to tide you over.
Happy Fourth of July!
~ Susanne and Benji
Nascar Hall of Fame
I think I can count on one hand the number of auto races I’ve seen in my entire life. Still, last year in Charlotte, we visited the Nascar Hall of Fame when we realized it was a few blocks from our hotel. Why not?
NASCAR stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and grew out of the Prohibition era when bootleggers modified their vehicles to outrun the federal agents who chased them.
It was worth the visit.
For this week’s photo challenge from CFFC, Letters or Numbers.
– Susanne
Enjoying the Great Outdoors at Federation Forest
We passed by this beautiful spot many times on our way to somewhere else but finally made Federation Forest our destination. According to the brochure, “the park is home to stands of majestic, old-growth evergreen trees – some more than 1,000 years old. Visitors can enjoy 12 miles of easy to moderate hiking trails that spread through cedar groves, along marshy wetlands and display the beauty and strength of the White River.”
Yes we did! We found many lovely trails through the thick forest and its carpeted floor that made walking – even in the rain – wonderful. We started out carrying umbrellas as we took the trail to the White River.
The air was fresh and clean and wildflowers of all sizes, shapes and colors brightened the way. Can you smell their sweet scent?
The aptly named White River comes from snowmelt off the Emmons Glacier from nearby Mt. Rainier.
The milky river was difficult to access so we didn’t stay long and soon were off on another trail among big trees, this time with splashes of sunshine and no umbrellas.
The forest is comprised of Douglas-fir, western hemlock, Sitka spruce and Western red cedar, all wonderfully fragrant. Vine maples are scattered throughout and mosses, ferns, salmonberries, devil’s club, salal, and Oregon grape make up the understory.
We saw no one else on the trails though we did see animal droppings – whether deer or bear I don’t know – I only know I paid more attention after that.
Federation Forest is on the Chinook Pass Scenic Highway on the way to Mt. Rainier, which I suppose is why we never stopped before – our usual destination is the Mountain. Still this is much closer to home and now that we have discovered it we’ll return again to walk through the old-growth forest and enjoy the Great Outdoors.
Shared with Sunday Stills.
~ Susanne
Three it is!
For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge I went looking for threes and found these!
Three turtles sunning –
Three chairs waiting –
Three foxgloves growing –
Three giants standing –
~ Susanne
Blue and White at Coulon Park
Every time I walk at Coulon Park there’s something special to enjoy. And though my feet were firmly planted on the ground, today it was the sky.
For Jo’s Monday Walks.
~ Susanne
Poor Tiger – A Conversation
“Tiger?”
“Yes, Sue?”
“About yesterday…..”
“Yes, Sue?”
“Just an apology of sorts Tiger. I want you to know that I didn’t really want to coax you into the box but sometimes we do what we must rather than what we want.”
“You know how I hate the box, Sue ”
“Yes I do Tiger. Your howling told me so. But the good news is, you’re all up to date. No more trips to the Vet for many years to come – cat years that is.”
“Glad to know, Sue. But I still don’t see why it was necessary. I’m healthy and happy, you know that.”
“Right Tiger. But I hope to keep you that way. So anyway, you can relax now and go back to what you were doing.”
“Thanks Sue.”
~ Susanne
Reflections on the Cedar River
Last week we took a walk on the Cedar River Trail. It had rained the night before and heavy clouds remained overhead.
But the river was still and placid,
reflecting the loveliness nearby.
For Sunday Still’s, Stillness.
~ Susanne
A Drive to Black Diamond and the Green River Gorge
Bob and I have been unloading some things by consigning them for sale at a collectible store in Black Diamond. So once a month we make the drive to the old coal town to collect money from our sales, hopefully greater than what we spend while there. 🙂 Hey – it’s all for fun.
Regardless, the drive’s the thing. We head down the Maple Valley Highway and if the weather is decent we stop by Nolte State Park for a walk around Deep Lake. But even if we don’t have time for that we always swing by the Green River Gorge and walk out on the one-lane bridge and peer over the side.
After oohing and ahhing over the views – which are incredible this time of year – and promising ourselves that someday we’ll hike to the bottom, we move on to Black Diamond which looks like this in case you wondered. Well at least that’s what the museum next to the collectible store looks like. I have yet to visit as it’s only open a few days a week and somehow we’re always there on the wrong day.
Next time, we tell ourselves. When we do, I will share it with you.
~ Susanne
A Trip Through Grand Coulee Country
You’ve no doubt heard of the Dam – the largest hydropower producer in the United States and one of the largest concrete structures in the world.
But there’s more to Grand Coulee than the Dam.
“Appropriate as the word grand is for the dam, the name Grand Coulee actually refers to a unique geological feature created thousands of years ago when Ice Age glaciers blocked the ancient riverbed of the Columbia River. When water eventually traveled under the ice dam, great floods scoured out hundreds of miles of deep gulches, or coulees, in the Columbia River Basin. One of these, the Grand Coulee, is four miles wide and bordered on three sides by steep cliffs.” For more on the Dam see the National Parks website.
We visited Grand Coulee last week – dramatic, arid, vast and empty – starting from Wenatchee Confluence State Park where we were camped next to the Columbia River.
We headed northeast toward Grand Coulee Country where there were roads with slow moving tractors,
and lonesome farms,
and fields growing wheat and electricity.
We passed through small towns including Waterville,
and Douglas, where we found a fire truck for sale.
There was a stop at Dry Falls, where a giant waterfall once flowed during the last Ice Age
which I told you about previously – here.
From Dry Falls we headed to Banks Lake, a 31-mile long reservoir filled in the 1950s to provide irrigation water to the Columbia Basin.
We passed by Steamboat Rock, which you can hike to the top of, but we did not.
Instead we continued our drive around the lake
through scablands with sagebrush and canyons
until we approached Grand Coulee Dam from behind, where the Columbia River was backed up waiting to become hydroelectric power.
We stopped to admire its awesome size and watch the movie at the Visitor Center.
Then we continued on our way south through the heart of Grand Coulee
and west again to where we’d started, arriving back to our campsite in Wenatchee as the sun was about to set.
It was everything we wanted in a road trip – amazing geography, deserted roads, and small towns, all under blue skies and brilliant sunshine.
We vowed to return.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 