Butterfly Town, USA

I loved Pacific Grove, known as Butterfly Town, USA. The monarch sanctuary was a great place to clear my head, literally, as it was a forest of pine and eucalyptus. Photography was challenging because the park is set up with some distance between the trail and host plants.

While photography was fun, I intentionally put the camera down and really watched and enjoyed the butterflies too. There were not as many as I expected, but it wasn’t the height of the season yet. I didn’t get to observe them clustering.

After spending a couple of hours with the butterflies, I went in search of the oldest working lighthouse in California. I paid the admission and went in. It was quaint with antique furniture and displays of how the lighthouse worked long ago. I climbed the narrow winding staircase to observe more living quarters and displays about the lighthouse’s role during WW2. I saw Coast Guard officials and the volunteer said they were like celebrities, only coming about every three months to change the light bulb. Then when I started to go up to the top, she said it was closed today, because the CG was working. Usually it’s open. I wondered how I could get so lucky?

I left there and found Oceanview Ave. and drove around the peninsula along the ocean and found the Asilomar State Park, which was a trail along the Asilomar Dunes. I parked and walked the trail for a couple miles and then found a nice spot for some yoga. I originally thought I would hang out until sunset and then get food, but my stomach had other ideas. I had time to find a restaurant and return before sunset. I hadn’t seen any restaurants, but figured I’d just ask Siri. Alas, my phone was dead. I went to the car and plugged it in and decided to drive around until the phone charged enough. I saw a street with a stoplight, so I turned down that street and found the downtown area. I spied a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place, but no where to park. Then, I ran across the farmers market with food trucks, so I got some street tacos and sat in a park for dinner. I went back to the state park and watched the sunset from the beach.