Much to Betty and Marge’s dismay, it was once again time to succumb to my wanderlust and skip town for a few days. Of course, I always miss them the second I walk out the door, as well as the entire time I’m gone. What was really great about this trip, in particular, is that there was no shortage whatsoever of other cats with which to pass the time.
First of the bunch were my “roommates” Penny (calico), Taco (orange) and Zero (tuxedo)- I stayed with some friends and they are their cats. I’d never had the pleasure of meeting them before, so I was very much looking forward to doing so on this trip, especially because at various points in time, each one of them had made an appearance in my dreams (yes, I have dreams about cats- very often, in fact!). It was like meeting celebrities!
All three of them were pretty welcoming and curious upon my arrival. Penny and Zero are siblings, while Taco is the odd duck of the bunch, the loner. Initially, it was Zero who showed the most interest in me, but over the course of the 5 days, it actually ended up being Penny who spent the most time hanging around with me (and supervising the area, making sure I didn’t mess anything up in her apartment), with Taco making occasional appearances to check out what I was doing in my room and sniff around my Betty and Marge-scented belongings.
They were very entertaining, to say the least, especially with Penny and her perma-judgy face and Taco’s constant state of being high after receiving his gift of catnip pads. I was also lucky enough to meet another friend’s very chatty smokey grey cat, Jack Sparrow, but he was unavailable for photos at the time (he was available, but too excited to sit still for a clear one).
Another thing I did in Seattle was visit a cat cafe called Neko. Would you believe it when I say that is the first cat cafe I’ve visited in the U.S.? It’s true. My first and only times going to a cat cafe were in Tokyo in 2016. What’s especially ridiculous is that, for years, I complained that we didn’t have one in Chicago (and thought to myself how I’d open one if I had the funds) and then we finally get not one, but *two* cat cafes in Chicago and I have still not been to either of them yet.
Neko was a small, adorable little cat cafe in Seattle’s Capitol Hill. It was recommended to make a reservation online, which I did, but realized it wasn’t necessary once I arrived. I say that only because I went during mid-afternoon on a weekday, so it wasn’t too busy. I imagine that’s not the case on weekends or evenings.
It was $10 for 55 minutes in a small room with a handful of cats. I believe there were 8 or so at the time, though a couple of them had already been adopted and were just waiting for their time to go to their new home. I went during what was very obviously nap time, as most cats were deep in sleep mode and not very active, which was totally okay. I felt tempted to curl up with one of them and take a nap myself! Being a tortie, I predictably took a liking to Trixie. Callie and Roy were also notable characters. After my 55 minutes were over, I spent a few minutes in the actual cafe part and bought a few cat-faced doughnuts for the road.
