Greenfield, CA
While we wait for our new home (RV) to be built,
we've been busy doing normal things.
I continue to help my Mom out,
and George and I have been purging things out of Harvey :-)
My 60th (!) birthday is Sunday,
so George asked me what I wanted to do.
The weather is starting to get nice, with almost 70° temps.
I chose to go to my favorite place,
anywhere where I can see the ocean :-)
One place I'm ashamed to say I've never been
is the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove.
It's a grove of Eucalyptus and Cypress trees where
the annual overwintering of the monarch butterfly happens.
They begin arriving in October,
then cluster together on the trees.
The monarch can not withstand freezing temps,
so to survive they overwinter in mild climates.
The temperature has to be just right..
not too cold as to kill them,
and not to warm to sap their energy.
Pacific Grove is just perfect for that!
The story of their migration is pretty interesting,
and can be read here.
By February they are in their mating cycle,
and more monarchs are emerging from their cocoons.
The sanctuary is set up with a few stations
that have descriptions of the life cycles of the monarch.
We only wish we would have come in November,
when there are more than 30,000 monarchs!
Today there were approximately 1,200.
George and I moved on to a drive along the coast.
We're at the tail end of some storms
that have been pounding the area with rain.
The waves have been pretty impressive,
even sweeping a few tourists off the rocks :-(
There are always lots of seagulls preening their feathers.
Never tire of seeing the sea otters floating around too.
Soon after we went to Domenico's for drinks and appetizers.
It was nice to look out and see some otters playing.
We had such a terrific time!