We arrived at night to the Suncadia resort in Cle Elum, Washington. It was a wet, rainy night and we were glad to check into our room. My husband and I were relaxing in bed when we heard the repeated sound like ringing that lasted for a duration of 30 to 60 seconds. We were baffled by where it was coming from.
We explored the room where we thought the noise was coming from, opening closet doors and searching the bathroom and under the bed. I had a hunch what it was because I have heard a sound similar to this one. I turned on the flashlight on my iPhone and began searching the slats of the closet and nightstand. Eureka! I found it. It was a small, wheat-colored bug tucked away on the outside of the closet frame. I could see its beady little eyes and antenna slightly probing the air. It was a cicada! Actually it was kind of cute.
I am familiar with cicadas as they are prominent in the later weeks of summer in Michigan where I grew up but the sound emitted of the type there is different . The sound from this cicada was higher pitched and had a ringing tone. Well, anyway, my husband captured it in an empty coffee mug and set it outside the hotel room door. He thought it might be too cold to place outdoors. Well, it took about 30 minutes for it to get comfortable and it began “singing” again, but this time the chirping echoed upon the walls in the hallway and was just as loud. I opened the door and had to search because it was camouflaged quite well. Back into the coffee mug and this time it had to go outdoors.
In contrast, the next morning after arriving home I was startled by a pretty ugly spider that showed up near my clothes hamper in my bathroom. We didn’t look at each other very long. I am sorry to say, my shoe came down upon the ugly, treacherous-looking spider with a smack. You get the picture. Now, cicadas, even though they look similar to roaches when they are full grown, gain my approval because of their interesting sweet sound, especially when their buzzing chorus penetrates the thick summer air giving indication to the particular stage of summer.
Don’t get me wrong. The resort hotel was quite new and clean and I would definitely go back there again. This little guy just made his way in, probably in anticipation of the cooler outdoor temperatures. Don’t we tend to go to places we are most comfortable?
