Postcards from the Trail

This week's Photohunt theme is average. This was extremely difficult for me. This week is the Seattle Flower and Garden Show and the weather has been very spring-like here in the Pacific Northwest of the US. So I have gardening on the mind.

Here is a picture of our average suburban house - with an un-suburban un-average garden. Many of our neighbors have lawn and evergreen shrubs. We've made our average house different by digging out the lawn and putting in lots of plants instead. Wonderful in June when this picture was taken - but a devil to weed.

Hope you are having a good weekend.

Waimea Valley - look closely and you can see me- Very tall trees!

This is another post on the gardens we saw on Oahu during our trip in December.

Last post I talked about the arid garden and area around Koko Crater. Let's now travel to back to the North Shore and the Waimea Valley Center. This park is has had a checkered past ownership. At times it was a stable and other times it was a park. Recently, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has become the owner and it is now preserved as a cultural and natural resource for native Hawaiians. We were interested in the center specifically because it has a great botanical collection of of over 5000 tropical plants from Hawaii and other tropical areas around the world.

We headed back up to Waimea Bay and North Shore area taking a leisurely drive up windward Kamehameha Highway. Of course, we had to stop for breakfast at Leonard's Malasada truck in Laie. Love the sugary goodness of these warm yeast donuts. It wasn't long before we were driving into the Waimea Valley just next to where the roadsides were crowds two days earlier for the surfing competition. It was pretty quiet today although there were a few crowds at Ehukai Beach for the Pipline competition was going on. We pulled out our hats and shirts, slathered on the suntan lotions and mosquito repellent and headed for the entry.

The gardens snake up the valley following the Kamananui stream. Sections are devoted to plants of different tropical areas and major tropical species such as Acanthaceae, Hibiscus and Heliconia . The main path passes by these groupings. Side paths take you up the hills to different areas or down along the stream. We loved seeing the different species of Piperaceae with the huge Peperomia plants. I am so used to seeing them as small houseplants. Here they were huge shrubs. The trees were also outstanding. They formed a shady canopy over the walkway towering several stories above.

Along the way are several archeological Hawaii sites and spots setup where native Hawaiians practicing local crafts. It was near Christmas and one of the craftswomen was weaving baskets for Christmas ornaments out of pandanus leaves.

The path goes about 1 mile up the valley before it comes to a pool and Waihi Falls. There are changing rooms and a lifeguard. A perfect place for a swim to cool off. Rumor is this pool was on the first season on Lost. We were not interested in a swim so we headed back towards the gift store spending time to see plants we missed along the way.

It was almost noon when we returned to the car and time for some tasty North Shore Shrimp.

Waihi Falls


Bixa orellana - Annato - this colors margarine








Justicia aurea - Shrimp Plant


Breadfruit - Artocarpus altilis


Ohia - Metrosideros


Zingiber spectabilis - Pine cone ginger

We want to wish Congratulations to Trekcapri. She adopted a new 2 year old tabby cat named Elizabeth. They are both in for a treat! Getting to know and love each other.

We love sharing our lives with our cat - 14 year old Cassie. We got her as a small kitten. Her mother was a feral farm kitty. She is such a prima donna. We are totally her slaves.

We have a few tips. Cassie recommends Temptation treats. She also highly recommends hot sock tubes of catnip. Definitely arrange a warm sunny spot preferably with territory view. Set a few glasses of water around the house. Also leave lots of sparkly balls around to play with along with paper bags and boxes to hide in. Feathery toys and string are good. Laser beams drive me wild. I also like a variety of food - canned warmed with some hot water, dry so I can eat at my leisure, and if you really want to reward me - tuna or shrimp.

Here is one of my favorite internet cats - Maru - showing Elizabeth what to do with a large box.

Ladybugs - Spring in the Coulees

This week's Photohunt theme is Spotted. I had a couple of ideas for this but nothing inspiring. So I turned to google and checked out what other images came up for spotted. Okay... yes I cheat. :) One of the photos was of ladybugs. That reminded me of these great lady bugs that we found in Eastern Washington in 2007.

We went for a long weekend at Cave B resort. They had a winter special and a great deal. Just north of the hotel is Ancient Lake in the Quincy Wildlife Recreation Area. The day was cold but sunny. We hiked to Ancient Lake at the base of basalt coulees. In the dry grass along the shore, we found these amorous ladybugs.

Here are a few more shots of the area taken in early April.

The lady bugs were on the tall grass in the foreground

Trumpter Swans

Do you ever have one of those serendipitous days where you decide to visit an area but you don't have any specific plans and the day ends up magical? We had one of those days on Monday.

We called up a friend who likes to bird watch and suggested that we go to the Skagit Valley. He couldn't go on Sunday so we decided to go Monday. The forecast was unpredictable as usual in January in the Pacific Northwest. It has been extremely unseasonably warm and dry. Gray still but warmer and drier.

Skagit Valley is about 1 hour north of Seattle. The Skagit River forks just south of the city of Mount Vernon into two branches and creates Fir Island. This is rich farmland and also the winter home of snow geese, swans and bald eagles. Flocks of these bird migrate south from the summer breeding grounds in Alaska to over winter in the rich fields. We have seen the flocks increase over the years.

Birders share this area with hunters in the winter months up through January. Washington state Fish and Game have several areas set aside which are open to both hunters and bird watchers. It can be a difficult mix but part of economy of wildlife.

Fir Island is easy to get to. Driving north on I-5, you exit at Conway and head towards La Connor. We had just crossed over the south fork of the Skagit when we spotted a field of Trumpeter Swans. We have two favorite spots to stop. First is the Hayton reserve. We had seen a bald eagle in the trees west of the parking lot last year. Wow! This year there were at least 4 bald eagles in the trees and also a huge nest. We brought out the scope and watched the birds. We also noticed several bald eagles just sitting in the fields and one returned to the tree with a catch and we watched him eat it. We think it was some type of rodent caught in the field.

Bald Eagle

We moved on and headed to the end of Rawlins Road where we could access the dike and over look the salt marshes. A large flock of snow geese were in a field so we walked about 1/4 mile along the dike until we could see them. We had passed several hunters along the road and we could hear their runs in the distance. The flock were a little agitated but we had a great opportunity to watch the geese as they went through the field.

It was time for lunch so we headed to La Connor and the La Connor Brewery. There are several great places to eat in La Connor, the brewery, Palmers and Calico Bakery are good. We like the brews at the brewery so we always stop there.

After lunch we headed north towards Edison. This is the Padilla Bay and the estuary for the Samish river. We had heard that there might be a snowy owl near the out take of the Samish River. First we stopped at West 90. We saw very little bird life other than a Marsh Hawk. But on the way back we stopped to watch a flock of Trumpeter Swans near the highway. We were fascinated by their head bobbing just before two pairs would take flight. They would travel a ways out of distance and then after waiting a couple of minutes - they would return. We watched and listened to the gentle honking in waning light of the late afternoon.

It was time to head home. We decided to head back across Fir Island. There was an opening in the clouds and G was predicting a nice sunset. We crossed over the bridge onto Fir Island and I noticed a flock of Snow Geese near Maupin Road. I decided to stop. Just as we pulled up, the sun peaked under the clouds and the sky was starting to turn golden. We looked towards the north and saw groups after groups of snow geese heading towards us. We stepped out of the car and watched in amazement as each group approached over us and glided to the field for the night. It was so magical. It was one of those moments that you just could not capture.

After a short while, another car approached and for some reason, the geese were spooked. All at once the flock took flight and headed toward the water. The golden sunset was speckled with their wings.

It was growing cold and dark. We headed back to the car and Seattle. A satisfying end to a glorious winter day.

Skagit Estuary

Arriving for the evening

A field of Snow Geese

Snow Geese in the mud

Snow Geese taking flight in the sunset

Here are some links:

• Short Trips: Birds and birders flock to these fertile fields
• Trumpter Swan Society
• Skagit Valley Tourism
• Skagit Wildlife Area
• Watching winged friends
• Snow Geese in the Skagit - our previous visit in January 2008