I've been hiking a lot more lately. So far I've been going about once a week. I'm trying to stay more active & when you get in the rut of living life in a car loving city, you are forced with getting fat, joining the gym or trying something fun. So fun it is! In the last few weeks I've gone to Runyon Canyon, Fryman Canyon, Brand Park / Verdugo Mountains & Escondido Falls. To be fair, I did Runyon in February & picked up going again in April. Runyon wasn't too bad until we hit the stairs going up. That was a killer for me. I think it's about a 3 mile hike. Fryman Canyon was just under 3 miles & has a steep incline to start, but afterwards wasn't bad. Plus, we got to walk through a fancy neighborhood at the trail end, which apparently includes George Clooney's house. I didn't take any pictures on the Fryman hike, but here are some from Runyon:
The trail at Brand Park was quite difficult because of the incline, but has really great views of Glendale, Downtown, Burbank & the valley. My friend told me it's about a 3 mile hike, but we wandered around another trail as well. We went the opposite of her normal route, and the way down is incredibly steep. My legs were shaking! We did this one when it was sprinkling out, which I welcomed.
I went to Malibu yesterday to do the Escondido Falls hike. We only went to the base of the 1st waterfall. I hear the views & 2nd waterfall are tons nicer, but it's a bit rough / dangerous getting up there. Considering my company we just kept it simple. I'd like to do it again if I'm feeling adventurous to see the other waterfalls. This hike isn't too difficult. It's not very steep but it is longer than the other ones I've been doing. It's best to do on a cool day in the Spring. You're in direct sun for a good portion of the hike, and waterfalls are always best closest to when it's been raining. This is about 4.2 miles altogether.
The other day I was downtown and in addition to finding out where all the handsome men apparently are lately, I found a couple cute objects while walking around.
I should probably make this next section a different post, but we'll see how it goes. Last year, Rocky Votolato did a Kickstarter campaign to self release his new record instead of going back to a label. It was hugely successful, gaining almost twice the funding than he set a goal for. I contributed and got the download of his new album in March and honestly, my first thought was - boring. I was a bit disappointed. "Little Spring" was by far the best song on the album and a pretty great & catchy song it is. After hearing that I expected the rest of the album to have some of the same oomph but it did not. It took me a while to come back to it, but after listening to it several times there are several exceptional songs on there. The tone is quite different in my opinion than his other albums, except maybe his very early works. It's a lot more mellow & folksy than I'm used to so like usual, I have to learn to listen to it in a different way. This happens to me from time to time where I buy an album & at first hate it, but then grows on me so much I can't believe I ever thought that way.
I was curious how his show would be. I've been going to see him play for 9 years, and he always puts on a good show, but the last couple times I saw him, at The Troubadour especially, he seemed to rush through his material. I'm not sure if it was to get more songs in, but for me picking up the pace of his songs takes away from how good they are. To my delight, he was exceptionally good on Saturday night. You could tell he was in a great mood - he sounded fantastic & he looked really happy. I think the crowd was less full than I've seen at his shows in the past (it was Cinco de Mayo) but still quite a full room. He played several new songs but really mixed up his play list. I'm pulling these off the top of my head & they certainly aren't in order, but I'm pretty sure he played these songs. I'm sure I'm missing some. Little Spring, Ghost Writer, Fool's Gold, Tinfoil Hats, Mix Tapes/Cellmates, Montana, Goldfield, Alabaster, The Night's Disguise, Suicide Medicine, Silver Trees, She Was Only In It For The Rain, Makers, Instrument
Super moon!
