Laguna Beach near Montage Resort

It was a sand and sun filled weekend.  I biked down to Santa Monica beach on Saturday and soaked up some sun.  A little too much though, as I managed to miss a good portion of my back when applying sunscreen.  Needless to say my tan line looks ridiculous.

But Sunday was the real beach day.  I journeyed down to one of my absolute favorite SoCal beaches.  It is the beach directly below the Montage resort in Laguna Beach, which is right next to Aliso beach.  I came here several times when I was in school.  And I remember it being a lot less crowded.  But I was also not there on a perfect day in August.

The beautiful Montage resort.  I hear it used to be a trailer park.

It was awesome despite the crowds.  The beaches down in this part of Orange County seem more "real" if that makes sense.  With bluffs, cliffs, seaweed, and tidepools they are just a lot more fun to explore.  I met Steve and Laura there and we had a great time just lounging and enjoying the incredible scenery.

The waves were pretty strong and the water was surprisingly cold, but it felt really good to get in the ocean.  Laura spotted an abandoned frisbee that was riding the surf and of course Steve chased after it.

Steve is happy with his new frisbee.

We decided to check out the other side of the beach, which was a bit more crowded, but still lovely. And still no where near the crowd level of Santa Monica.  First we tried to get to the middle beach, but the journey seemed a little trecherous with high tide so we decided against it.  I climbed a big rock to get this 360 degree view.

Bad hair day after a swim in the ocean.  And yeah, I need a haircut

After some reading, tanning, and more relaxing it was time to head home.  But I had to get one more picture.  I would highly recommend this beach if you are willing to make the drive.  It is just beautiful.  And if you can afford to stay at the Montage, well than even better.  Some day I will :) 

Reflections at the beach

I think I wrote this about a year ago when I was sitting alone on a beach in Pales Verdes.  I thought I would share it now.  Happy Monday!

I love that soft light.  That light at the end of the day, when you are sitting alone on a beach.  A rugged beach, littered with seaweed.  A beach with smells, salty, sour, alive. Where sandpipers scurry from place to place looking for a tasty morsel in the hard wet sand.

It is a place like this where that soft light is so transfixing.  Where the sun is looming just above the jagged cliff, casting black shadows and threatening to go down.  And you are sitting on an old log, smooth from the countless waves that have swept over it.  You watch as silhouetted seagulls cross the sun.  The waves rumble, draw back, crest and crash.  The mist rises up into the air and tickles your nose.  You listen to the gentle hum of the wind interrupted by the thunderous crash of a wave, which dissipates into the docile lapping of retreating water over the sand's grooves and trenches.

A small fly buzzes at your ankles but you hardly notice.  You are enraptured by the soft light that glistens on the water and spreads itself delicately over the smooth beach rocks, the stranded kelp and the eroding hillside.  You savor every second.  You know it won't last much longer.

The symphony overwhelms you.  You breath deep.  Deeper than you have in a long time.  You see a pelican dive dramatically into the water.  As soon as it's under, it's back out again with it's prize.  The unfortunate of the school.  This gives you some perspective.  You watch the pelican fly over the horizon and you glimpse the last of the soft light, as the sun retires under the sea.  You stare moments longer trying to savor the image.

Water tingles your toes and just like that you are back to reality.  High tide has come.  It is time to go.  You take one more deep breath, one more far off gaze and you promise yourself that when things get rough tomorrow, when life returns to chaos, you will remember your beach and that soft light.

Ice House Canyon Hike

Another weekend, another great hike.  This time it was a bit more of a trek than usual.  Ice House canyon is in the Upper San Gabriel mountains, just north of Upland.  Steve, Laura and I left at 6:45 to get there! AM!  We picked up Laura's younger brother and headed into the canyon.  Usually it costs $5 to park but for some reason this weekend was free! Win!  The downside was that the parking lot was packed and we tacked on another half mile to our hike because we had to park down the road.  But I was just glad to see some trees! Pine trees nonetheless.  The air smelled incredible.  I think that's how air is supposed to smell. Fresh.  We started off at 5000 feet and started to climb over 3000 more.   

The weather was perfect and I was really happy to be in nature.  So I climbed a log.  And then I took this picture of Laura's brother.

I climbed this log too. So I could take this blown out picture.

There were a lot of cabin ruins along the first part of the trail.  This was one of the more substantial ones.  Most of the others were just chimneys.   

My future residence..could be a bit drafty in winter

A couple miles in we started to get to the switchbacks.  Let me just say I hate switchbacks.  Ok hate is a strong word. But sometimes you wish you could just go strait up.   

But I love these views. 

We finally made it to what a sign informed us was Ice House Saddle.  I'm not sure what that means, but it wasn't all that satisfying.  It wasn't at the top of the peak and we decided that we had to get to the top of the peak.  We took a break for lunch.  Not a bad view for lunch eh?

It was another mile to the very top and we charged it.  The air was getting thinner and the gravel was very loose, so it was not an easy ascent.  I have never seen this before, a pine cone with clear sap over it.  It looked like icicles were dripping down the cone. Pretty cool

I call it a Pinecicle

We were almost to the top.  I was ready to get there and I charged ahead. 

 I paused to catch my breath and found this cool wood formation.

Cool wood formation

Finally we made it!  There were no sign at the top so I decided to get out my sharpie and my pocket hatchet and make one real quick.

Ok, I kid.  The sign was already there.  But kind of ghetto right?  We hung out for a while and just admired the views.

After some group meditation we began our descent.  Going down was a lot quicker.  I was doing my patented "controlled fall" down the the mountain.  We were surprised at just how far we had gone.  When we neared the end of the hike we decided that it was time for some creek stompin'.  The water was crystal clear and so cold it was almost painful.

After some hesitation, I decided to just go for it and jump in.  I went all the way under and it took my breath away.  But it was so refreshing, especially after being sweaty and dusty.  Laura and her brother soon followed, but Steve wasn't feeling it.  We dried off and headed back to the car.  It was another successful hike.  I would highly recommend Ice House Canyon.  It is amazing how close it is to civilization and yet you never get the sense that you are anywhere near it.  We were lucky enough to go back to dinner waiting for us at Laura's house, and man did it taste good!
 

The Huntington Library in Pasadena

I had some quality family time this past weekend.  My sister had a basketball tourney in San Diego, so on the way back my mom, grandma, sister and sister's friend stopped overnight in Pasadena.  I met them for dinner and the next day we went to the magnificent Huntington Library.

Now they call this a "library", but this is not your run of the mill public library by any stretch.  While it houses a fantastic collection of rare books, it is also so much more.  It has a famous art collection, an arburitum, a mansion, and hundreds of acres of gardens of all different variety.  Here's a little history on the place...come on, don't roll your eyes...read on.

Henry Huntington. A cool dude.

A private, nonprofit institution, The Huntington was founded in 1919 by Henry E. Huntington, an exceptional businessman who built a financial empire that included railroad companies, utilities, and real estate holdings in Southern California.  Huntington was also a man of vision – with a special interest in books, art, and gardens. During his lifetime, he amassed the core of one of the finest research libraries in the world, established a splendid art collection, and created an array of botanical gardens with plants from a geographic range spanning the globe! COOL!

The library part of The Library

Ok, enough of that, lets see the place!  We stopped first to see the book collection, or "library" as it were.  I took a picture of the famous Gutenberg bible, but of course it didn't save.  So instead, you get this, a really old copy of Shakespeare.  I'm talking like first edition.  Pretty neat.  

We took our time looking over the fascinating collection of texts that seemed to span the entire history of published works.  Then it was on to Huntington's modest dwellings after a few photo ops.

Mom and Grandma with Huntington Mansion in the background

The house was wonderful and reminded me of something you might see in Europe, Austria perhaps?  Inside was an impressive porcelain collection and the famous blue boy painting along with other paintings.  Grandma told us about how she went to the Huntington as a little girl and marveled at the big staircase.  So naturally we had to take a picture.

  While the house was great, it was a perfect day outside, so we were eager to explore the gardens.  But first we went around the front of the "house" to take in it's splendor.

Just a shack right?

The gang and the view from the terrace

We decided to explore the jungle first.  It is amazing how many different types of plants can grow in Pasadena. 

It was about lunch time so the girls and grandma decided to head to the cafe, but my mom and I had to press on a little more.  And I'm glad we did.  This was our reward.

A Cactus Tree!

There was a great desert landscape, and then just to the side was a green lily pond garden.

We had lunch at the cafe and Grandma decided a beer sounded nice, and boy was she right (She ended up giving half to me.)  Refueled, we decided to hit the Japanese garden.  It was pretty spectacular.  I neglected to take a comprehensive picture but suffice to say it rivaled any Japanese garden I have seen in the States. 

Molly contemplating swimming with the Koi fish

The Bonsai tree garden was very impressive too.  Many of them were hundreds of years old! I had no idea that you can basically make a Bonsai from any kind of tree, well probably not you or I, unless you are a Bonsai Master.  But I was pretty fascinated by how much time and effort goes into these trees.  And they had so many! 

My favorite Bonsai. It was like a mini forest!

At some point the Japanese garden became the Chinese garden, but don't ask me where exactly.  Both were beautiful. 

 

 

 

 We were finding our way back to the main entrance when we stumbled upon the arboretum.  And when you stumble upon an arboretum you don't just pass it by right? Right. So we went inside.  They had several exhibits for kids about carnivorous plants and plants that had special features, which of course I found enjoyable.  Also saw these little beauties.  

                                            

                                           

 So as you can see I was thoroughly impressed with the Huntington.  If you are in Pasadena looking for some culture, or want to get away from the city without really leaving the city I highly recommend you check it out.  Be prepared to spend a good chunk of time there though because you won't want to leave.  I will definitely be going back.

http://www.huntington.org

Santa Anita Canyon Hike

Two weeks ago I went on this hike with my friend Steve.  We had been on several hikes along the Santa Monica mountains and were ready to branch out a little.  After consulting our favorite LA hiking website, modernhiker.com, we decided we would go a little further and head to the San Gabriels.  Our destination was Santa Anita Canyon, a shady canyon in the mountains north of Pasadena.

Parking could have been a little bit of a nightmare but we got really lucky.  We climbed down into the canyon and were pleasantly surprised by how shady it was and were thrilled that the river actually had some water in it.  Thank god because it was almost 100 degrees.  This sign was a bit sobering.

True and depressing. Thank you sign...

 We had heard that there was a waterfall and I was skeptical of that too.  A waterfall in LA?  Well we trudged through a group of old cabins and some flowers.

And we got to the waterfall!  While it wasn't the roaring Yosemite falls it was pretty cool especially for SoCal.

Don't do it Steve!!

We followed the river up through the canyon for several miles.  It was beautiful and green.  I couldn't believe we were still in LA.    

Yeah we are special, don't hate.

We kept hiking and hiking, because we thought the trail would loop. But when it didnt we decided to turn back.  About 6 miles later we were back where we started.  It was a beautiful hike, I got to see some trees, and we got to splash around in the river and were under shade for most of the hike.  Good times!

A pretty cool flower.