Alaska Airlines will cancel up to 150 flights per day through Saturday on its maligned Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft.
22.12.2023 - 17:21 / nationalgeographic.com
Vibrant orange and black wings fill the skies above coastal California each winter as thousands of western monarchs take flight. But these iconic butterflies are disappearing. A new trail brings attention to their decline and invites travelers to help protect them.
The Western Monarch Trail is a 465-mile, road trip-friendly conservation initiative that links over a dozen stops along the butterflies’ annual migration route. Here’s what to know about western monarchs—and where to see them.
Western monarchs—a subpopulation that lives west of the Rocky Mountains—are in trouble. Although numbers fluctuate yearly, the population has declined by an estimated 90 percent since the 1990s. Scientists don’t know why the population is shrinking. But they suspect some combination of increased pesticide use, habitat loss, and human-caused climate change are to blame.
During the winter of 2020, western monarch numbers plunged to a staggering low, when fewer than 2,000 butterflies overwintered in California, compared to hundreds of thousands or low millions in previous years. “It was incredibly unnerving,” says Kristin Howland, executive director of the Central Coast State Parks Association, one of the organizations behind the new trail. “It was like, ‘OK, something has to be done, but what is it?’”
In 2021, several conservation groups and government agencies came together to help the species. Using the Whale Trail, which aims to help southern resident orcas rebound in the Pacific Northwest, as a model, organizers created educational panels in English and Spanish explaining the monarchs’ annual migration and their plight. The signs also outline ways travelers can help the butterflies recover, such as by supporting pesticide-free farms and planting native nectar gardens.
(Whale watching is booming. Here’s how to do it responsibly.)
Today, the trail includes 14 sites along the California coast between Big Sur and Port Hueneme.
Many stops on the trail, including Pismo State Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove and Andrew Molera State Park, are overwintering sites where western monarchs hunker down from October to February. During those months, travelers can see thousands of butterflies fluttering in eucalyptus and Monterey cypress groves in areas with mild temperatures, dappled sunlight, high humidity, and little to no wind. “They’re like Goldilocks,” says Danielle Bronson, who manages educational programs at Pismo State Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove. “They can’t have it too hot, they can’t have it too cold—they need it just right.”
Other sites, like the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden and Avila Valley Barn, grow flowers that provide sugary, calorie-dense food for the butterflies to eat. Though the monarchs tend to be less
Alaska Airlines will cancel up to 150 flights per day through Saturday on its maligned Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft.
Even when splurging on first-class upgrades, lounge access, or TSA Pre-Check, I don't know many people who would consider the airport environment particularly relaxing.
Low-cost airline Breeze Airways is adding several new non-stop routes for the spring, including flying out of San Diego for the first time.
Alaska Airlines and United Airlines may face little more than the cost of a “severe weather event” from the temporary grounding of most Boeing 737-9s, a second-largest model in the 737 Max family, following an accident aboard an Alaska aircraft on Friday.
Travel is always top of mind in the New Year. Brimming with possibility as 2024 is, it's easy to drift off into daydreams about the adventures to come. Whether you’ve already planned this year's big trip a year in advance and have nothing left to do but twiddle your thumbs, or your next vacation is but a twinkle in your eye, travel is always on our minds.
When you think of an adrenaline-pumping, outdoor lover’s dream destination, you probably don’t think of Redding, California — but you should. In Northern California, just south of the Oregon border, Redding is an up-and-coming outdoors destination that’s quickly becoming known for having endless places to hike, bike, kayak, and fish — and that’s just when the weather’s warm.
In the U.S. state of California, the northern valley named Napa includes a wine scene under constant transformation. Establishments change ownership, new talent arrives and well known names depart. During 2023, for example, Rombauer Vineyards sold their brand (as well as many of their facilities and more than a square mile of vineyards—located not only in Napa Valley but at other northern California regions) to E&J Gallo’s Luxury Wine Group; Miljenko (Mike) Grgich, who crafted the iconic Chardonnay that brought fame to Chateau Montelena in the 1970’s, passed away; the Napa Valley Wine Train celebrated its 30th anniversary, while the Napa Valley Wine Trolley (a replica of a tram car from San Francisco) reopened at Castello di Amorosa after years of Covid-19 related closure. Also in 2023, the county approved the first ever proposed ‘micro-winery’ (Goel Estate Vineyards) with criteria that include that it not produce more than 5,000 gallons of wine per year and that the owners grow 75% of grapes used for fermentation onsite.
The principals of the innovative London and New York-based travel company Black Tomato made their name by assembling detail-oriented and sometimes very out of the way travel plans for exceedingly curious, adventurous clients. Having surveyed the market to ascertain what their clients are interested in now and the changes they see in the travel landscape, they’ve come up with the ways they see that travel happening in the next year and in what parts of the world those ambitious travelers could be.
The Airbus A380 may be the largest commercial jet, but something far larger took to the skies in recent months.
Portugal is an ideal destination for a scenic road trip. The roads are generally in good shape, and the nation’s relatively small size allows you to see a diverse array of attractions, even if you have only a few days to spare. Throw together an Iberian soundtrack, and you're all set to hit the open road in Portugal.
Do you already have 2024 New Year’s Eve plans? What if you could celebrate the ball dropping twice in one day? The Napa Valley Wine Train is partnering with the legendary Grgich Hills winery for “Midnight In Paris: A Legacy NYE Celebration” to commemorate not only the new year but also to honor Winemaker Miljenko “Mike” Grgich who recently passed away at the age of 100.
A dream road trip requires not only cool destinations but inspiring travel along the way. Ask dedicated skiers and snowboarders what their dream trip looks like and you’re bound to hear the phrase “Powder Highway” come up more than once. The 630-mile stretch runs along Route 95A through British Columbia and into Alberta, with dozens of ski resorts and even more options for backcountry touring en route. South of the border, the US has a similar stretch of road – albeit one that runs north to south without nearly as much fanfare: US Highways 191 and 89 from Bozeman, Montana, to Ogden, Utah.