ANOTHER WILD GOOSE (OR WILD BUTTERFLY) CHASE IN LA JOLLA, CA

 Nov. 2 - On this Friday evening, Ken's grandson Russell, was playing in his last regular season football game at Hilltop HS in Chula Vista, CA.  We drove down to watch the game (See Article about Russell's Football Game.)

I had discovered that this is the time of year that Monarch Butterflies migrate to California where they hibernate for the Winter.  I always thought they went to Mexico but it turns out that only those Monarchs that live east of the Rocky Mountains migrate to Mexico; those that live west of the Rockies migrate to the Eucalyptus trees in southern California.  Strangely enough, Monarch butterflies use the very same trees each and every year when they migrate.

The article I read stated that 4,500 Monarchs migrate to the Eucalyptus grove on the UCSD campus in La Jolla, Ca.  And another 4,500 butterflies migrate to another Eucalyptus grove a few miles from there.  UCSD was en route to Chula Vista!!  We had to explore!!

The article explained exactly where to go on the UCSD campus.  "The monarchs are located in eucalyptus trees along the blue screen art sculpture."

I searched and searched the Eucalyptus trees and did not see a single butterfly!

Then I spotted a group of students and their leader looking up into the trees.  I approached them and asked if they were looking for the Monarch butterflies.  They were doing something else and knew nothing about the butterflies.  I told them about the 4,500 Monarch butterflies that were supposed to be roosting in their Eucalyptus trees!!  "We have not seen any," they said.  And then suddenly:  "There's one!!"  "There's another one!!"  There's one over there!!"  I still could not see any!!  Then I was able to see a very small one, but it appeared to be a dark color.  I thought they were yellow.  How disappointing!

I searched a little longer to no avail.  Then, as I was making my way to the car, the most amazing thing happened!!!  A single butterfly flitted around my legs and landed on a piece of wood right in front of me!!  I took a quick picture.

The butterfly flitted around a little more and came back and landed in front of me again!!  How amazing!!  It's not yellow!

Of course, I've seen more and larger butterflies than this one, but this one was out in the wild!!  Not in a butterfly garden!!  I was thrilled!!

We started to drive to the second Eucalyptus grove a few miles away, but realized we needed further directions; besides we had to take a pit stop.  We went to the reception desk of the nearby Residence Inn.  The clerk at the desk gave us a map and directions.

Believe it or not, there were fewer Monarch butterflies at the second location.  But, I was impressed with the size of the Eucalyptus trees!!

This is what we expected to see!!  HA HA  We'll have to try again later in the season.

Anyway, the map that we picked up at the Residence Inn had an advertisement for "The Best Fish Tacos In San Diego", Wahoo's Fish Taco.  That is where we needed to go!!  The clerk had given us directions, so after failing to find the butterflies, we headed for the Fish Tacos!

Oh, did I fail to mention, they also advertised $1.95 Beer of the Month!!  This month it was Pabst Blue Ribbon!!  Ken said he has not had a Pabst in years!!  Here's to you!!

The fish in the taco was Wahoo and it was delicious.  We each had two large tacos with large pieces of Wahoo.  Since the tacos had double tortillas, we divided the tacos and made four tacos apiece!!  Actually, I would have preferred my fish fried, but I don't think they have anything fried in La Jolla!!

Wahoo's Fish Taco is a small chain in California.  We can definitely recommend the fish taco and beer of the month, if you run across one of the restaurants!!!