Weather turned out pretty nice during our last days in
Santa Barbara. Still in
the 60s, but the sun was out so it felt warmer. And I had gotten most of the
work I had planned to do at my mom’s, so after Hubby finished with his work (he
was working remote so he could go on this trip with me), we took a hike through
the Goleta Butterfly Grove. Well…sort of. The trails through the grove itself
are closed due to the deterioration of the eucalyptus trees (drought has been
making them unstable), so we didn’t get to see any butterflies. But the trails
to the beach were still open, so those are the ones we took.
I had never been there before. Heck, I didn’t even know the
butterflies migrate to that grove every stinkin’ year! Maybe the next time I
visit the area the trails will be open and we’ll be able to see more. Anyway,
here are some of the pictures I took on our walk to the beach. It was quite a
walk and I got my 10K steps in!
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| This is a map of the trail we took. Yellow from the parking lot, orange on the walk back. |
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| An example of what is happening with the trees in the grove. |
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| This is the eucalyptus grove and where we walked from. |
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| This is where we were walking to. You can see the Channel Islands! |
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Yes, there are snakes in California. This was the second one we
encountered. It was twice as long as the first!
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| Reached the end of the trail to the shore. We were up pretty high. |
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| A couple of flocks of pelicans flew by. I'm surprised I even got this shot. |
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| UCSB is off to the left (we weren't far from the campus). |
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| These wild flowers were growing everywhere. I thought they were pretty. |
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| We had walked on the top part of the cliff coming to this spot. |
I have to say, I got spoiled during my trip. Maybe it wasn’t
warm-warm, but the cooler nights were sure comfortable sleeping in (and the sunny days were absolutely
beautiful). When we came home, our house was warm and stuffy. I was a sweaty
wreck trying to sleep. What happened to spring around here? I can’t even open
the windows at night. It’s already getting humid. Ugh.
So…I was going to write more on this post, but Hubby and I are trying to
get the DVR % down (cause we still have things to record), so I spent the
evening watching TV. But I was also rooting for Tampa Bay to win last night,
and they did! Yay! Tonight I’ll be rooting for Vegas. I’m hoping for a
Vegas/Tampa Bay Stanley Cup final. Who are you hoping will win? Or are you
completely out of it (or were never in it)?
Happy Friday!
Stacy
6 comments:
Great pictures, that looks like a real nice walk! Shame about the eucalyptus, though. Is that the part of California that's been in a 5 year drought?
I'm having a hard time finding a team to root for. Of all the teams left, I think I'd like to see Winnipeg win the Cup, or Washington (even though I still bear ill will toward Holtby for robbing a great Bruins team in 2012, and I think Tom Wilson is going to kill someone, I'd like to see Ovechkin get a Cup). There has been some entertaining hockey played this year.
Jeff - I think all of Santa Barbara County has been in a long drought. The last rainfall (which produced flooding) helped fill the lake some, but it's a long way from being normal. As for the cup... No Washington! NOOOOO!
frankly, once the Ducks are out, I just don't care.
Glad you had a lovely time! Fabulous photos!
Silver - I used to feel that way about the Penguins, until Fleury was picked in the expansion draft. Now I like Vegas, too (because I'll always love Fleury).
I had no idea we even grew eucalyptus in the states. But California is so mild so why not.
Despite the drought, it looked beautiful.
Maria - It is pretty mild in Santa Barbara. Temperatures don't fluctuate as much per season like they do here. When I was a kid, I used to complain I wanted snow. Boy, was I stupid! Haha!
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