Echo Mountain...

 Pat and I seem to be starting a new Sunday early (like up before the sun) routine that I'm loving.  We roll out of bed, and head to a new hike somewhere!  It's usually followed by breakfast and damn straight mimosas if they got em!  Since it's summer, these early morning adventures are the only way to go.  I'm also just thrilled to be married to a hiker who is taking me to all these new places I've never been!

Yesterday was another really cool hike!  It's called Echo Mountain.  It was about a 6 or so miler hike and I want to say about 1400 elevation gain.  Basically up the entire way.  It was tough, but very pretty!  The trailhead is out in Altadena, and there's actually a bunch more trails up there, but we just did this one since we're getting back into hiking shape.  I will warn you though - it's a popular trail, so be prepared for peeps.

The other really cool thing - is at the end of the Echo Mountain Trail Hike - there's the ruins of a hotel that used to be up there!  A friggin train used to drive people up to this fancy resort!  It blows my mind that there was a hotel up there! The train was called Mount Lowe Railway - you can read a bit about that here.  There's also a great link here to fill you in on the origins of the hotel and pictures! Super interesting and super cool to check out!  

I was able to get some geocaching in too.  I've learned a new way to download offline data or something so I can actually cache more in these remote areas I don't get reception on my phone.  But Echo Mountain actually was ok.  There weren't too many caches on the trail we were on, but there was one at the top and a couple at the trailhead.  My legs were too jelloy to look for the farther trailhead one, because on the way up - too many people - on the way out - a bit too treacherous for my shaky tired legs.  But did get one closer!

We hit up Merengue Bakery in Monrovia on the way home.  One of Pat's favorite places.  I don't mind having a delicious Cubano for breakfast!  And they had a "Cuban Mimosa".  Yup!  Yum!

A truly lovely Sunday hike that challenged us, gave us some beautiful views, and ended us at a really interesting bit of history at the top!  We were pretty tore up, but less tore up from last weekend so I think we're on the way to getting back into good hiking shape!

Walking up to the trail head

Here we go!

Me & my love for trees

Creepy Cool

Up and Up we go

Love when trails are framed with plantlife

Part of the train!

Such a trip!

This was near the cache I was looking for.

Found it after quite a bit of scrambling!

Pano

I think this may have been the pool at the hotel

Apparently this used to be a really cool functioning thing at the hotel

At the top of the mountain!

Probably my favorite shot of the day

Wandering around the ruins

Pat loves the mountains

Loved these little starburst flowers!

Trailhead cache

Can ya see it?

Cuban Mimosa consists of Guava juice and bubbly!  Yum!

Hi friend

I'm really hoping we can keep up this new Sunday Funday we've got going!

Holiday Weekend Photo Dump...

As much as the Fourth of July is my least favorite holiday because I HATE FIREWORKS - I do love an extended holiday weekend.  At Chapman we usually get two days off for the fourth.  This year it fell on a Monday so Monday and Tuesday was off giving us a nice long holiday weekend.

We got cut early on Friday (Even though I work from home Fridays so I'm already there) but I was able to get some chores, errands and random crap done before the weekend started.  

So - there was a random Wednesday before the weekend started that was Mom and my Glen Ivy Day.  We had wanted to do something super special for her 70th birthday and kind of a thank you for all she did for us during the wedding, so a day at Glen Ivy seemed perfect.  She had never been so that was even better.  I also made sure to book her a facial and myself a pedicure.  We had an absolutely wonderful relaxing day.

Time to chill!

Mom is ready!

Basically could sit here all day

Saturday the Hernandez Clan came over for a couple of hours of pool time.  Then Petey had his 50th Birthday Celebration!  He invited a small group to dinner at a really great Thai place in Garden Grove.  It was so wonderful to see some faces I haven't seen in person in a few years!  Yay Rudies!!

Scottie and his mini him - Silas

Pete with the ladies!

Happy Birthday Petey!

Pete's bestie

Hi Rob!

Mom & Dawn

Terri wasn't sure what to make of the odd coconut dessert jelly thing

Our group sans Scottie and fam

Now I may have drank a bit too much that day...so our 5am wake up call on Sunday to hit Mount Baldy for a hike was a bit rough going for me at 1st, but once we got there it was goddamn gorgeous!!!  Pat took us up to a place called Ice House Canyon.  We wanted to get up there early for parking and beat the heat, and it was just lovely!  Even though the parking lot was already full, we did score a street spot down the road (which later would have been impossible to find) and hit the trail.  We're both a bit out of shape, so we tried to keep light and did around a 5 1/2 miler.  It was uphill basically the entire time, so it was a bit rough but just awesome.  We hit a side trail called Chapman Trail then headed back after what we thought was the end.  It was truly beautiful!  So many gorgeous trees and a running stream that actually had water in it!  We also came across a few cabins and what looked to maybe be remnants of cabins.  We ended the morning on the way out at a little cafe attached to the Baldy lodge that was just delicious!

Hello Gorgeous

At the end...sort of

Love me some trees

This broken tree branch makes the best bridge!

Yeah, I'll just live here

Mimosas to celebrate not killing our selves!

 

The rest of the day we just chilled and worked on recovering from the hike.  Monday (the fourth) brought Cori and Tom over for Brats and Pool Fun - no pics unfortunately, I guess we were just enjoying the moment!  Around dusk the war zone began and Pat and I hid in the house with a movie on loud, trying to keep my poor Luna calm.  DID I MENTION I HATE FIREWORKS?  Let's just say we didn't sleep well that night.

My poor baby

Tuesday did some more errands and had lunch with Maria  since we're both off- of course we had sushi!

Sushi is always presented so pretty!

So with the exception of the assholes shooting off bombs all weekend, it was really a nice weekend off!  Very chill.  Did some stuff.  Saw some peeps.  Relaxed.  Just what the Dr ordered!!

Now can we please always have 4 day weekends??