Cuyamaca in Bloom...

Debbie and I took a delightful trip today, up to Cuyamaca Mountain and environs.  Our first destination was the Descanso Junction Restaurant, where we had an excellent (and gigantic!) breakfast: country-fried steak and eggs with rye toast for me, and eggs Benedict with chipotle-flavored Hollandaise sauce for Debbie.  Then we went wildflower-hunting!

We first took Boulder Creek Road north up the west face of Cuyamaca, then cut over Tule Springs Road almost all the way to El Capitan Reservoir, then up Eagle Peak Road back to Boulder Creek Road, then up and over the pass on Engineer Road, and finally back toward home through Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.  Along the way we visited altitudes from 1,700' to 4,800' and a dozen or so micro-ecosystems.  This means we saw a huge variety of wildflowers, this being that time of year.  Photos of some of these are below. 

We also ran across something we've seen a few times before: butterflies eating the minerals left by evaporating water.  In this case, we were at the ford over Boulder Creek, along Boulder Creek road.

We had a wonderful time, and so did Race and Miki (they came with us)...