California

What a fun week I've had!  On Monday morning, I got up early to catch a flight to Santa Ana California to visit my cousin Esther.  Our plan was to go hiking and running in the trails there.  On Tuesday, we got up and drove to Cucamango Peak where we ascended the mountain.  There were some pretty scary parts but I managed to get through them.  Unfortunately we were not able to make it to the peak.  The weather changes quickly on mountains.  We turned a corner and all of a sudden the wind was really strong and clouds had rolled in and we couldn't see where we were going.  We opted to stay safe and turn around.  It's too bad as we had about 2 km to go.  It was useless to keep going as there wouldn't have been a view anyways...  Next time!  On our way down, you get to a certain point where you can go left or right.  We had come up from the right so we decided to go down through the left.  Boy!  The view was amazing!  The trail was even thinner than the other side - but I did it!  When we go to the car, the rain started to pour!  We made it back just in time!

The next day, we went for a 12 km run in the trails around Laguna Beach.  Beautiful and challenging trails!  Much more difficult than here with the ups and downs!  I didn't see any snakes, lizards or cougars!

On Thursday we were supposed to ascend Mt. Wilson but my calves were hurting real bad!  Not being used to hills just killed them!  We decided to just go walking in trails in the area and take it easy.  Well... 10km later -up and down, up and down, my calves had warmed up and weren't hurting as bad... but boy!  We saw rabbits, quails, other birds and funny rocks - but no cougars, snakes or lizards.  We went out for dinner and a movie.

Friday morning was time to go home... which is a little sad as I know what I'm going to... snow and cold... yuck!

I had a great time in California!  66km, 1 mountain, multiple trails, great food and company!