Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Sunset Glow
For this week’s photo challenge I bring to you a sunset over the Strait of Juan de Fuca from a recent cruise to Alaska.
A Walk in the Rain at Soos Creek Botanical Garden
Our first storm of the fall season was supposed to land today, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds up to forty miles an hour. It still may. But this morning I decided to brave what looked like ordinary rain and headed to Soos Creek Botanical Garden for a walk.
I’m so glad I did. It was exquisite.
~ Susanne
Benji on Boxes
“Hi Benji. I see you found the box from my new shoes. What is it about cats and boxes? What compels you to get into an empty box?”
“Well Sue, it’s like this. Once we get into a box, a nap is immediately forthcoming. Works everytime. In fact I’m getting sleepy already.”
“Could you turn out the lights on your way out?”
“Sure Benji.”
~ Susanne and Benji
Colors of Coulon
I finally made it to Gene Coulon Park today to see the display of fall color under sunshine and clear skies.
Just in time. Rain and wind forecasted for the rest of the week.
~ Susanne
Cat in the Bag
Look who I found in the closet.
Benji. Cute, isn’t he?
~ Susanne
Benji and Tiger, Brothers
I don’t know exactly how or when it happened, but I do know that these two boys, rescued from previous lives that left them uncertain and scarred (within or without), crossed over from merely tolerating each other to real brotherhood.
I only know they did.
~ Susanne, Tiger and Benji
Football Magic
I suppose I should have been watching the game. After all, that’s why we had ventured out on a cold and rainy afternoon.
We had bundled up in rain gear, and as we pulled out of the driveway I texted this to my step-daughter, just in case. “Hi! We’re coming to the game. Do they ever cancel due to weather?” The reply, “Unfortunately not. We will see you there.” Haha. This ain’t baseball!
As we drove the thirty minutes south to the school, the weather improved slightly and by the time we arrived it had stopped raining. Still, everything was wet and the outdoor bleachers had no cover. We wiped down a spot on the top row and put down the blanket we had brought for cushion. We settled in for the duration, 4 quarters, 8 minutes each.
Our team scored first on the kickoff return. Six points. It was all they would score.
Okay so I’m not that much of a football fan. And I began to notice the lovely fall colors and how the purple uniforms (our team) blended into the scene; and the red track circling the field made a nice accent.
Periodically the heavens opened and our big umbrella was our refuge. Exposed parts of the blanket became soggy. Then as the sun was setting, this rainbow appeared over the field.
When it engulfed the tree I couldn’t tell you what the score was or who had the ball.
Too bad I only had my phone with me. This scene deserved a real camera.
By the second half the sun was down and I began to pay proper attention to the game, only to realize we were watching a rout. But the rainbow is what I will remember.
~ Susanne
Surprised by Rainforest
This week we happened upon the Temperate Rainforest of the Carbon River Valley just inside the remote northwest corner of Mt. Rainier National Park and enjoyed a lovely walk through the woods. Who knew?
Blessed to have all this so close to home!
~ Susanne
Alaska Cruise: Ketchikan
Well here it is already, my last post on our cruise to Alaska with our final stop at Ketchikan!
Ketchikan is in fact, the first city you would normally encounter cruising north into Alaska’s Inside Passage. Our itinerary however, took us to Juneau first, then to Glacier Bay, followed by Sitka and lastly to Ketchikan. Of the three cities we visited I think Ketchikan is the most colorful of them all.
And the rainiest, it turns out.
202 inches in 1949? That my friend, is some serious rain!
And then there’s this, taken from the ‘Alaska Cruise Handbook,’ by John Upton:
“Ketchikan visitor to child: How long has it been raining?
Child: I don’t know; I’m only five.”
So yes, it was raining in Ketchikan and we pulled out our umbrellas and explored the town on our own. I headed for colorful Creek Street, a historic boardwalk along the banks of Ketchikan Creek .
Creek Street used to be the red-light district of this rough and tumble fishing and logging town. Its colorful buildings now house shops, art galleries and restaurants. Salmon still swim upstream in the creek to spawn.
Most of the sawmills in Ketchikan have closed down but you can still see the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show on the pier. The show is fun and also demonstrates serious logging skills by young athletes.
We finished up our shopping before returning to the ship to start the journey home. The next two days we would cruise south under overcast, but beautiful skies.
While walking the promenade deck or gazing out the window from our balcony I liked to watch the sea, hoping to catch more of this.
And this.
No, not a sea monster. A humpback whale! Yes, we saw them several times on our journey and every time it was a thrill!
After a week of sailing we arrived back in Seattle, happy to be home again but also happy to have finally seen Alaska. In fact it left us hungry for more. And though I can now cross Alaska off my list, I’m sure we’ll be back someday to see more of this wild and beautiful state.
~ Susanne
Alaska Cruise: Sitka
We left Glacier Bay and after cruising all night, woke up early the next day in Sitka, a small, rainy, town with a large size and history. Though the town has only 9,000 residents it also happens to be the largest city in the United States by area, at 4,811 square miles, encompassing the entire Baranoff Island and surrounding sea. (It turns out the second largest US city by area is Juneau. Everything is bigger in Alaska I guess, even the definition of a city.)
The downtown harbor is too small for cruise ships, so we docked 5 miles from the center and took the provided bus to town.
Sitka is not technically on the Inside Passage as it faces the Pacific Ocean. This means the sailing gets a bit rougher. It also means it lacks the crowds and sameness of other cruise ship destinations. We stopped at a local coffee shop and enjoyed our drinks and pastries slowly. Then with umbrellas in hand we took the boardwalk along the waterfront and watched the eagles overhead and on the nearby beach.
A few blocks away we arrived at Sitka National Historical Park. It was here the Tlingit people clashed with the Russian fur traders destroying their first outpost in 1802. But the Russians returned in 1804 and drove the Tlingits out at the Battle of Sitka. Sitka was reestablished on the site of the Tlingit village, Shee Aitka, and eventually became the busiest port on the entire west coast of all the Americas. But by 1867 the resources of the fur trade had drastically diminished as sea otters were practically exterminated, and the Russians sold Alaska to the United States for 2 cents an acre.
The park includes a trail through the rainforest where many native totem poles stand guard.
As we stopped to admire them, a very talkative raven spoke urgently to us from a nearby tree and I began to understand its prominence in Tlingit culture.
After leaving the Park we wandered through town and picked up some mementos including some flavored salt, processed from the sea.
Then it was back to the ship to cruise to our final stop in Alaska: Ketchikan.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 