First things first! I spent the middle of March visiting Heather in her new home in West Los Angeles. She lives about 2 miles (and a relatively easy bike or bus ride) away from her workplace on UCLA campus, next to some well-named roads (she lives on Butler Ave, named after the school where my parents met, and the closest cross street is Iowa Ave!)
Heather worked during the week, with her usual long hours---she would leave around 7:15 AM and wouldn't get back until around 12 hours later---but that was fine, because I could spend that time getting work of my own done and running, and we were still able to see each other in the evenings and over the weekends.
The traffic in that area is quite horrific, but luckily we didn't have to go far to have fun. The first evening, we visited the Getty Museum, some 4 miles (a couple bus rides) north of Heather's apartment, up in the hills. The Getty is amazing---some world-class art, but we were most impressed by the stunning architecture of the buildings themselves, the beautiful grounds, and the breathtaking views of the western L.A. valley...and, you know, admittance is FREE!
Just a couple of people, happy to be together:
Looking down towards UCLA/Westwood.
The congested 405 freeway heading through the hills north, leading to the San Fernando Valley.
(Part of) a panoramic view from the Getty: to the left of Heather are the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the right are downtown L.A. and Culver City/Westwood.
Enjoying the sun, the view, and the cool cacti
This is a nice one:
Getty gardens
Purple clouds over the Getty.
We stayed for the sunset, which was spectacular.
Dusk.
The next day, it was time for a more invigorating adventure. We drove up the coast about 25 miles to the area of Malibu around Point Dume. (More about this menacingly-named Point later!) Turning away from the ocean, we started up a trail entering Zuma Canyon, and began what I'm considering calling a "perfect hike". After about a mile, the trail fizzled out, and for the next 2 miles, we were bouldering and stream-jumping and bushwhacking up the wild and untamed Zuma Canyon streambed. So not only was the weather pleasant, the scenery beautiful, and the human sightings scarce (and nonexistent for the "wild" part of the trek), but the actual hiking was challenging (both physically and mentally---picking out routes across the stream and over rocks was reminiscent of navigating a good canoeing river) and really fun! Oh, and that's not to mention the quality of the company I had on this hike. ;-)
Cool tree by Zuma Creek
Boulderin'
Bushwhackin'
Cliffhangin'
Stream-hoppin'
Waterfalls
Rocks & falls
Check out the smooth rocks!
It's amazing to find a place this wild and untamed, within an hour from a megalopolis. So beautiful.
After our obstacle-course trek up the canyon bed, we climbed out and back along a ridge via wide fire roads, with great views of the highest peaks in the Santa Monica Mountains (where Mom, Dad, and I did some hiking in the fall of 2006.)
Coming back towards the Malibu coast. You can see Catalina Island on the horizon.
On Sunday, we spent a more relaxing day around the neighborhood, heading to Santa Monica Beach for the afternoon and evening. We relaxed for a bit and I tried out my new triathlon wetsuit by swimming in the chilly Pacific water. (It felt great!) We ate a delicious meal at a vegan restaurant, and came back to the coast to watch the sunset.
According to a random website Heather found, the Santa Monica Pier is the 9th best place to watch the sunset in the world!
Pink sky and pink house
During the week, we had fun making enchiladas and going out to dinner a couple of times. While Heather was at work, I got some school work done, and also went on some pretty sweet runs in the Santa Monica mountains as good preparation for the upcoming marathon. I had two "monster" runs, one a 13-mile jaunt through the mansions of Bel-Air while gaining 1000 feet in about 5 miles, and the other a 18.5-miler starting near Will Rogers park, winding up the Backbone trail, to the popular hiking destination of Eagle Rock (where some kind people gladly offered me a water bottle when I asked), and down the Temescal Canyon Ridge Road---gaining (and losing) 3000+ feet in quite warm, sun-exposed conditions…that was a tough one.
Heather and I were invited to dinner on Friday night at the apartment of one of Heather's coworkers. It was great to meet most of Heather's working buddies (in fact, 5 out of the 9 people in the company; basically, everyone but the bosses)---what a friendly, nice, and entertaining group of people.
We had one more adventure in store for us: Point Dume! (Actually, we found out it's supposed to be pronounced "Dumé," but we agreed to keep pronouncing it "doom".) This rocky outcropping marks the northwestern end of the bay that encompasses Malibu, Santa Monica, Manhatten Beach, Redondo Beach, and ends at the Palos Verdes peninsula. More importantly, though, it is a great tidal-pooling location! We spend a couple of hours lazily making our way around the point, enjoying the beautiful day and place.
Beach where we started
"Look at that!"
Rocks, tidal pools, surf
According to a little kid we overheard, these are "M&M-ones"!
We saw dolphins, just off the coast! There must have been at least a dozen.
Now, don't get this confused with Muscle Beach, which is down the coast in Venice…
Mmmmmmmmmm!
Trapped by the tide
Wildflowers on Point Dume
Looking down the coast at Malibu
Looking up the coast at more Malibu
Point Dume
What an amazing break!
1 comment:
Nate! You were quite the paparazzo! Thanks for taking so many lovely pictures. Turns out we lucked out on trip to the Getty--I went once more today with Kristen and all we saw was smog... although we did spot some Monets and Van Goghs we missed on our trip.
Post a Comment