Yes, we have been doing a lot these last 4 months- especially me since I went on the girls trip to Austin just 2 weeks ago. But now we headed out in King Tut to enjoy 5 days along Monterey Bay in some perfect weather. Maybe a touch chilly at night but Dave made some great fires and we are pretty toasty in the rig at night. Have not camped here in at least 18 years after a rushed evacuation on New Year’s eve with the kids in the tent trailer. It was so windy and stormy, and the eucalyptus trees were losing giant limbs right behind us. Then highway 17 closed down and we had to navigate some narrow hilly residential roads with the F150 and tent trailer. Not fun at all. We had planned a couple trips in the last few years but -COVID- and other things caused us to cancel. This week has been awesome however.
The hardest part of this trip is getting the rig here on busy highways. But we timed it well and neither 680 or 880/17 were overly busy. Still some crazy drivers however. We waved as we passed Tesla and Santa Clara along the road since Matt and Jenny were working in the early afternoon. I did not realize how close Santa Cruz is to Santa Clara! We pulled up to the campground right at 2 pm when it opened for new campers to check in. We were in site 64 which was on the end of a circle but not on the bay view side. Not a bad site at all.
First place we went was to Natural Bridges State Park to see the Monarch butterflies. I’d heard there were substantially more this year than in the last several years so we HAD to go see them. In the trees the groups look so brown- like dead leaves. The underside of the wings are brown so closed wings combined with the numbers looks like a bunch of dead leaves. Then, as we watched, one or two would open their wings and flash bright orange. And then some would drop off and fly away. So relaxing and magnificent.
From there we went to the Santa Cruz pier and walked the pier looking for sea otters and sea lions. We didn’t see any otters but so many sea lions! We had fun watching the ones trying to get on the pier supports during low tides. We also saw a celebrity Red Footed Booby, which is a tropical bird that found its way to the Santa Cruz pier. Birders can be some weird people! It was quite chill, preening and sleeping right on the pier railing. Then as we headed back to the campground, we ran across an O’Neill surf competition with MANY support people and observers. That was pretty crazy!
The next day we went to Monterey itself. We hiked along the coastal trail and ended up on Cannery Row. No aquarium this time – it has gotten so expensive and even on a Friday looked very crowded. We walked both Pier 1 and Pier 2 and finally saw sea otters and some BIG sea lions. And so many Brown Pelicans actively hunting. They are quite fun to watch. The Western Gulls come and take fish out of the pelican’s bill if any part sticks out. They were harassing those poor pelicans!
We pretty much stayed in Capitola and Santa Cruz the last couple days. We got bread at Gayle’s Bakery which was yummy, and donuts are the Donut box. Matt, Jenny and Max came for breakfast Saturday morning and that was fun. Jenny had to get back to prep for class. I am so happy we will be back in a few weeks, this time with a site on the cliffs overlooking the beach.
