Niko - Part Zwei

Hopped up on coffee and breakfast, we drove straight for the Pacific Ocean. Our first stop was Pescadero State Beach.

This is Niko questioning my sanity:


This is Sarah questioning life's finer points:


We soon got sick of all of the beauty and headed in search of something even more spectacular. It's hard to believe, but we stumbled upon the truly extraordinary at Natural Bridges State Beach. Every year from about October to February, thousands of monarch butterflies make the eucalyptus trees in this park their home. The air and branches are filled with orange and black butterflies.

Those aren't birds flying around. Do you see the orange masses in the trees? Those are all butterflies!


A close up:


Here's the natural bridge for which the park is named:


Can you believe we were hungry again? Well, we were. So, we headed to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz and bought over sized junk food. Here's Mike with the smallest donut he could find:


Next, we rode the Giant Dipper, an 81 year old wooden roller coaster. It was not the smoothest ride. I think I cracked a rib or two. Here's some random guy behind us whose vertebrae has probably just been crushed:


We spent what was left of the day walking in downtown Santa Cruz and enjoying the colorful locals. (Niko really liked the walking part.) Once again, we had a great trip with our German friend. We can hardly wait for our next adventure with him.



Oh yeah, we also spent a lot of the trip looking at Sarah, but you probably already knew that.