Monarch Sanctuary at The Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa

Monarch butterflies always pause on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay during their 3,000-mile journey from Canada to the Yucatan Peninsula’s Sierra Madre Mountains. In October each year, the Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa in Point Clear, Alabama is the monarchs’ final U.S. mainland stop during their southern migration. Here they rest and feed, gaining body weight and energy for the trip across the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf Coast–and particularly the abundant natural habitat of the Grand Hotel–is considered a perfect place for viewing the migration, where butterflies are so numerous, the trees are “noisy” with the flapping of their tiny wings.