Legit in my Sitka Sneakers

Here's the view I wake up to every morning from my bedroom window.

Note the blue skies in the picture of the puget in my last post? So the one thing the Puget may have on Sitka sound might be sunshine.
The first five days of our stay here had two, count 'em, two sun sightings. One was a sun patch on a distant mountain spotted by Meg and Whitney on a walk through the harbor, and the second was a sun patch on Monastery street- Andrew spotted a tourist standing in the patch arms wide to take in the rays, with bystanders clapping. The rain isn't bothering me at all. I'm still excited about my new rain gear, and my Xtra Tufs, (aka, Sitka Sneakers).

These boots are admittedly not real lookers, but man are they functional. So far I have biked through the rain, waded in tide pools (see pic ->), waded out into skiffs and kayaks, taken strides into Salmon berry bushes, and walked through mud puddles and muddy trails. An interesting note for anyone who has seen the recent film, "into the wild," we think that the boots handed to the hero of are a pair of sitka sneakers. We're all hoping that is the end of the resemblance between him and us! :)

The best thing about Xtra Tufs is they are a ticket into the Sitka club. Just as a cute pair of Dr. Martin sandals were the key into Spring Forest Middle School society (remember that?), Xtra Tufs distinguish true Sitkans from cruise ship tourists. Xtra Tufs can also remind us of Uggs- when worn with shorts, my housemate Whitney attracted a little more attention than she wanted from the local fisherman and coast guard. Note to self....
The picture on the left is taken outside our front door, on Monastery street. That is Crescent Harbor, just 100 feet from our front door. To the left is the Russian Bishop's house, and the right is the Priest's House, both national monuments. Not bad neighbor's, really :)