Pacific Grove

It wouldn't be 2020 without a last minute change of plans and a little bit of disappointment. We were planning to visit Key West last week. We also tacked on a weekend visit to California for good measure. Due to a late season hurricane/tropical storm we made a very last minute decision to postpone our trip to Key West. It was 100% the right call. Tropical Storm Eta made landfall over the Keys and made for a rainy and dangerous situation most of the week in South Florida. 

When we cancelled our trip to Florida we kept our planned weekend trip to California. Then Governor Herbert finally announced new restrictions/measures to prevent the spread of COVID in Utah. In light of these new measures we reevaluated our trip again. Because the activities we planned to do were in accordance with the current regulations in California and Utah we still took the trip.

We flew to San Francisco on Thursday morning. This was the least full flights we have been on since the pandemic began. It couldn't have been at more than 20% of capacity. The flight to California is also short, ~90 minutes. We picked up our rental car and we were on our way. Our first stop was a mall in Santa Clara. We stopped at this mall to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Din Tai Fung. The last time we ate at Din Tai Fung was in Beijing. We wanted to eat there in the US, but most of the locations are on the West Coast. We made reservations and they were able to seat us as soon as we arrived. The health and safety protocols at this restaurant were the most stringent of any restaurant we have eaten at during the pandemic. All of the waiters and waitresses wore face masks and face shields. They had an ordering system using a paper menu and sanitized pens. They kept food/beverages covered with plastic shields until they were served at the table. They also visibly posted details of the extensive cleanliness procedures they were using. Their seating was set up to provide significant social distancing. They also had an option for contactless payment after the meal. Beyond the COVID precautions they meal experience was fantastic. We love their Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings), dumplings, vegetables and noodles. It was an excellent meal provided in a safe and sanitary environment. After lunch we walked across the mall and got ice cream at Alison's favorite ice cream place - Salt and Straw. They seriously have our favorite ice cream. 

The pandemic is, of course, top of mind and so Alison and I are observant of the differences between the places we visit and Utah. So far in Northern California adherence to the guidelines is much better than we have seen in Utah. On this trip in indoor settings, I would estimate proper mask wearing (covering nose and mouth) is 99%. Outdoors in most places is in the high 90% range as well, particularly when social distancing is not possible. Some places such as the beach were less, but people were also distanced. 

After lunch we drove to our hotel in Monterey. I loved this drive. We took highway 17 south to highway 1. This drive evokes feelings of nostalgia because I used to drive this route frequently when I was serving my mission in California. I shared a lot of memories with Alison during our drive. I loved serving a mission in California. It was a valuable life changing experience. 

We dropped our bags at the hotel and headed to the Monarch butterfly sanctuary. The impetus for planning this trip was a KSL article I read this summer, "Monarch butterfly populations continue to drop at alarming rates. Here’s how you can help in Utah". I was dismayed to read about the drop in the Monarch butterfly populations. I have often talked about visiting the sanctuary in Pacific Grove. I find the life cycle of the monarch butterfly to be fascinating and I have used their life cycle as an analogy in a couple of talks/speeches I have given. This year we decided to visit this sanctuary and see the butterflies before they are gone. 

November is normally prime time to see the Monarch Butterflies in Pacific Grove. The best time of day is between 12-3pm. We arrived a little after 3pm, which is fine because we considered our first day a bonus, we had time planned to visit the grove during the prime window on our second day in the area. The area all around the grove has lots of butterfly artwork. It is easy to see the butterflies are important to this area. We walked through the grove and we did not see a single butterfly. We weren't put off at first because we know they can be difficult to spot in the tall eucalyptus trees. While we didn't see butterflies we did see some deer and beautiful birds. As we were leaving we met a local who told us there haven't been any butterflies in the grove this year. He explained the wildfires in California this year disrupted the normal migration of the butterflies. It felt like a very 2020 thing. He did say that while no butterflies have shown up yet, this has happened before, and they could well start showing up in late December. We are disappointed we would not get to see Monarch Butterflies on this trip, but we will still have fun, and we have already decided we will try again another year. 

When we were done at the grove we drove to Carmel beach. This is one of my favorite beaches. It is beautiful. The sand is soft and it has perfect rolling waves. We spent the rest of the evening walking along the beach watching the sunset. It was a spectacular sunset. Alison has decided we are ocean people. We love the sights and sounds of the ocean. We find a lot of peace and happiness from spending time by the ocean. It was a lovely evening. 

We wore our masks most of the time while we were walking along the beach (as did most other people). 

We took off our masks occasionally when we were distanced from others to take a photo. 

There were so many dogs playing on this beach. We missed Tex, and wished we could have brought him with us. He would love the beach. 

On our way back to our hotel we stopped and bought a specialty chocolate bar. We ordered some pizza on our way and they delivered it right to our hotel room. We enjoyed out pizza and chocolate and called it a night.