I went down to Pacific Grove to attend a seminar. The weather was gorgeous and the monarch butterflies were there for their migration. A volunteer at the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Pacific Grove that last year there were 17,000 butterflies, and this year their number had increased to 23,000. There were flying overhead in the grove of eucalyptus trees and it was amazing. I had never seen so many butterflies in one place before. It was hard to get a photo of the butterflies, but I did manage to take a photo of one.

My digital camera is not the greatest, but I did get a decent photo. If you are passing through the area, the monarch butterflies are going to be there through I believe mid-December. It is so worth seeing them. The volunteers had a telescope set up and I saw the monarch butterflies clinging together like a daisy chain. It was so unreal to see them like that, all close together and just hanging on to each other. It was like I was looking a live butterfly curtain, which felt so surreal and yet it was right there in front of my face.

Then we drove down to Carmel and walked down to the beach to watch the sunset, so here's my Carmel beach at sunset pic.

The weather was warm which was so unexpected since it was rainy and cold just a couple of days ago. Okay, one more photo.

We were at a gallery afterwards and asked the gallery person for a recommendation for dinner, and she said to go across the street and try the newest restaurant in Carmel called Cantinetta Luca http://cantinettaluca.com/, which is located on Dolores Street between Ocean and 7th Avenue. The woman at the gallery said the pumpkin ravioli was to die for.

We were able to only able to get a table because it was 6 pm and very early for dinner, otherwise the restaurant was all booked up with dinner reservations. For appetizers, we tried 1) Arancini - fried risotto balls with mozzarella and prosciutto and 2) Grilled local sardines, eggplant crostini, teardrop tomatoes and balsamic Vinegar and the Tricolore salad of bitter greens, green apple, gorgonzola, walnuts and honey vnaigrette. I loved the fried rissota balls, very inventive, and the local sardines were out of this world. I'm not a big sardine lover, having only ever had the canned variety, but I could get used to eating fresh grilled sardines.

We each had the pumpkin ravioli with brown butter, sage and saga and just a glass of wine each of the Sangiovesse, Remole " Marchesi de Frescobaldi" 2003. The sangiovese was like a pinot noir only a little more earthy, and a very good wine.

We were thinking of eating at the Merlot Bistro on Ocean at Lincoln. I've eaten there a couple of times before, but it's nice to try new restaurants especially when one that's been recommended. And it wasn't that expensive either I think. We paid around $80 with tip for dinner for two; not cheap but not outrageous for great food and very, very nice wait staff. And I love that they had dishes I'd never seen before and wanted to try.