On Sunday we drove to Capitola to surprise Nate and Julie with lunch at the Train Place Deli. It felt like we had arrived at Nate Heaven: trains ran along the entire stretch of the restaurant behind plexiglass, TVs looped videos of steam trains, and the walls were decorated with train posters. We ate lunch, Nate least of all (no surprise), and then drive to Santa Cruz to visit the Butterfly Preserve within the Natural Bridges State Park. Julie wanted to hold the caterpillers near the visitors center before we could walk down the long wooden walkway to the recessed eucalyptus grove. Eighty feet above, a cloud of Monarchs swirled between the leaves and rested on branches in heavy clumps. Later we played in the sand, just a short walk away.
