kathryn comes to town

my friend, kathryn of reno, came to visit me for a few days last weekend.

very nice to see her again after so long.

actually, i did see her briefly back in march or april on a quick trip up to nevada. prior to that trip, the last time i saw kathryn was a couple of days before i moved to the coast. she, rick and helen and i sat above virginia city watching the 4th of july fireworks. that’s right: above virginia city! about 1000 feet above virginia city. interesting to see fireworks coming up at you instead of over your head.

i picked up kathryn at the san jose airport friday at a couple of minutes after 2. from there we headed over to giorgio’s on foxworthy for a great pizza before driving over to los gatos and then saratoga for a cup of coffee (tea for kathryn) at the big basin cafe then up hwy. 9 into the redwoods and big basin state park.

before long we were in santa cruz and heading south on rt. 1 on our way to the peninsula. by the time we reached monterey it was dark, giving kathryn an opportunity to see cannery row at night. we also grabbed the doc rickett’s crossing cache before heading east to carmel valley.

the next morning, after kathryn had the courage to try one of my cups of coffee (i started her off with 1-shot of espresso and 1-shot of water to about 10 ounces of 2%) and hanging out on the bench with the hummingbirds, we were off to big sur for waterfalls, more redwoods and a few more caches for kathryn.

on the way back we stopped off in carmel for a drink at the hog’s breath and a cruise through town to grab a cup of coffee at ron’s favorite coffee house before hitting the grocery store for dinner. i made some kind of stir fried beef dish with noodles and cookies for desert.

on sunday we were off to the monterey bay aquarium. but, not before coffee and hummingbirds, this time with a blacktail deer for good measure.
although we had passes for the aquarium (thanks phil and linda!), we walked in like we owned the place. hey, if you look like you know what you’re doing nobody questions you. i wish i would have remembered to grab the tripod from the car before we got there as it was just too dark and i had to use a really slow shutter speed, which made the shots a little blurry. i had a ray swim directly up to where i was standing. that should have been a great shot but. . .

on the way back to the car we stopped to grab a cache across from the american tin cannery then drove over to seaside for mexican food. after taqueria-style tacos we headed over to del rey oaks for a geocache hidden in an industrial park near one of the secluded break areas. after finding the cache and enjoying a dessert of cookies we were back on the caching/sightseeing tour.

back to monterey and asilomar.

kathryn is actually enjoying lattes.

we left the coastal road and came up lighthouse to frank’s coffee house, pacific grove juice and java. this time kathryn had them step up the coffee content to two shots; i had a triple.

then we headed over to pebble beach for a cache or two and gawking at houses then back home. i don’t remember what, if anything, we had for dinner on sunday.

after coffee (another double for kathryn) and communing with the hummingbirds we were all too soon off to san jose with a quick stop at mazda raceway laguna seca and a quite drive to the airport.

friday afternoon a package came for me from kathryn. it was a hummingbird feeder. it’s only been up for two days and i already have a war going on with several hummers who want to take control of the feeder. i never realized how territorial they are. that must be why they need all the energy: to fend-of the other hummers.

it seems i have more visitors coming soon: willy just told me he’ll be in town this coming weekend and rick is coming in october for the alms race at mazda raceway laguna seca.

bigger and smaller wildlife sightings for today

it was another amazing day for mammalian sea creature encounters: within seconds of arriving at “our beach” for our morning meeting i noticed what looked like a spray of vapor about ¾ mile off shore. ron looked up in time to see the next spray; it was a pod of humpback whales.

they stayed between ¾ to 1-½ miles off shore, but it was another treat on back-to-back mornings that made for a great start to the day.

from that distance it was hard to tell how many of them were in the pod, but we guessed, by the distance between the spouts, that there were at least 4 of them; maybe more since they can hold their breath for great lengths of time.

i have been here for 3 months and yesterday was the first time we have seen dolphins from the beach and today was the first time we have seen whales. i did see whales a few weeks ago on the pose’s boat and ron has seen a whale come up close (100 ft.) to the beach as recently as last spring and has seen dolphins a few times, but it is the first visit while i was there to witness their appearances.

pacific grove, little more than a linear mile north of where i know sit is known as butterfly town, u.s.a. for the monarch butterflies that gather here each year to sit (fly) out winter. their migration brings them from alaska and canada to hang out around here in the milder temps.

i don’t know what it means for winter up north, but i saw my first monarch butterfly this afternoon.

pacific grove, also known as “america’s last hometown”, has an annual butterfly parade where the kids in town deck themselves out in butterfly regalia.

it must be quite a sight to see so many of the beautiful critters flying about; the butterflies not the children.

these are not leaves in the picture to the right; they are monarch butterflies that have gathered together in the monarch grove butterfly sanctuary.

and add to the wildlife encounters of the day: when i went out to get a case of water from my car i startled a black tail doe that was on our front porch. her adolescent youngster on the front yard stayed put while i walked within 15 feet of it; it’s big eyes not leaving me for a second.

dolphins yesterday; deer, butterflies and whales today; what’s left for tomorrow?

mermaids!

oh, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous with cool night for sleeping-bliss and highs near 80 with crystal-clear blue skies!