Seldovia

Seldovia is a small fishing community just south of Homer. The only way to get there is either by air or by boat. Mother and I took a water taxi across; a trip that took about an hour and fifteen minutes – but could have been a lot shorter if we’d had a faster boat.

The trip across the bay was beautiful. We had clear blue skies and hardly a wave in the ocean! Birds were abundant, of course, as were the otters and other sealife. Some people saw whales, but I have to admit I was not one of them.

Mother and I spent the trip sitting at a table with another couple we’d met on the docks. They were long-time Alaskans who were currently living in California and had come up for a vacation to visit their old stomping grounds. Somehow, we got onto the subject of Hobo Jim: a favorite singer of ours, and apparently a good friend of theirs.

Once we docked in Seldovia, mother and I were met by my friend Tracy (she’s the one who gave me both Thing and Djuna). I had gotten some cat food for her from Anchorage, since she can’t get it there in Seldovia – or even in Homer – so we handed that off to her and she dropped us off at the trail head.

We’d read about this trail on the way across the bay: it’s called The Otter Bahn trail (as opposed to the autobahn in Germany), and is about 1.5 miles out to the ocean – so 3 miles round trip.

What a beautiful trail that was! It went up the hills (not a bad climb) through the rain forest full of salmon berries, watermelon berries, and blueberries and down to a small cove that looks out to Mt. St. Augustine and Mt. Redoubt. (both active volcanoes). Mother and I sat there on some driftwood for quite a while, watching some ravens pester a pair of eagles.

I love the sounds and smells of the ocean!

Once we made our back to town, eating handfuls of berries along the way of course, we ambled up and down the streets looking at houses till it was time to meet Tracy again for lunch. We ate at a place called The Tidewater Inn, a very nice little restaurant overlooking the boat harbor. Of course, we talked about cats: not surprising when you have three cat lovers sitting at the same table.

Once we were done with our meals, she took us to her house to meet her kids! She currently has 10, half of whom are 7 weeks old. Tracy breeds both the Devons (like my kids) and Oriental Short Hairs – so having 10 cats at a time is apparently normal for her.

For mother and I, it was a real treat to get to play with them all. Sitting on the floor with all those kittens and cats piled up all over me – that was so cool. I fell in love with one of her males, named Spaz. He’s about 6 months old and is another Devon (I do love a Devon) – and yes, he’s fat & hairless, just like my Alien.

Apparently, I like my men naked!

Unfortunately, mother is allergic to cats and had forgotten to take an allergy pill at lunch, so that - plus the fact that we had to meet the taxi at the docks at 4:30 - cut our visit shorter than I would have liked. I mean, 2 hours of playing with kittens just is not enough!

The ride back to Homer was uneventful except for the detour to pick up a bunch of kids from the NOAA camp site. Apparently they were just finishing up on a 3-day field trip for a science class, and needed a ride back to Homer.