Pre-holiday weekend

It's only now eight days until Christmas (would that be maids a milking?), yet instead of spending most of it shopping, S and I took off Saturday afternoon to go for a hike. The night before he treated me to a comfort food dinner at La Cabana as I was feeling a bit stressed after a long week, and Saturday morning we arose to hit two sample sales and grab sandwiches bigger than my head at Santa Monica's Bay City Deli. It was exactly what we needed prior to our hike.

There are, somewhat surprisingly, many places to go hiking in the Los Angeles area. Hence, why S got me a book entitled 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Los Angeles. Though we have both wanted to do the "M.A.S.H." hike, it's a bit of a drive especially when you're not getting started on it until 1 and the sun sets at 5. Plus it's a six mile hike. So we opted for a closer one at Temescal Canyon, right near the end of Sunset Blvd. This is S at the bottom.


It was awesome. It also kicked my butt on the way up. We took the steep way up and climbed one of the canyon's ridges all the way to the top. It also took us a lot longer than it probably should have because I was snapping photos the whole way. Like of this cactus that hikers had carved their names into.


After 45 minutes we started to really wonder if we were going the right way because we hadn't yet reached the top and supposedly this part of the trail was only a mile and a half. And it was starting to look like Sleepy Hollow...


The view was incredible.



Once we reached the top, at first we weren't sure which way to go to get back down.


But we figured it out and on the way found something to play on.


The scenery on the way down differed greatly from that of the ridge. On the way up, there were scrubby bushes and chapparell (the sleepy hollow stuff), the trail was cracked dry dirt, and most of the plants were brown or dull green. On the canyon floor, however, everything was lush. The ground was wetter, the flora was vibrant, and it was cooler as well. If I had looked at photos of both areas, I wouldn't have guessed they were the same trail.


It's down here that I had S pose for some pics.



The view on the way down.


After our long hike, we climbed this awesome tree in the canyon. Look! It's me stuck in a tree!


That night S whipped us up a fabulous dinner of chicken, pasta, collard greens, and salad. Ok, well, I didn't really like the greens, but everything else was fantastic. That night we shot some photos of the canals which are decorated for the holidays.

Every weekend it seems I wake up craving pancakes. It doesn't happen to me during the week, but come Saturday or Sunday morning they're on the top of my list. So, on Sunday before we went our separate ways (me to the mall, him to bartend as a favor for a friend) he figured out how to make me pancakes from scratch! Mmmm.