Does this look like a city to you? Me neither. And actually, I'm always surprised at how silent it gets on these trails. Sometimes you can hear the faint rumble of traffic, but mostly, it's like hiking anywhere else.
I'm also fascinated by west coast flora. I can't remember seeing anything like this back east, or even when I lived in Colorado. Let me know if you know what this is, although I will be consulting my own plant expert - my mother.
This is Mountain Lake (where's the mountain?). Again, I never left the city. Also, I hit every "scenic overlook" listed in the website above, but I felt too touristy to take a picture there. Everyone else either looked like a hardcore weekend biker or a hardcore hiker. I tend to take off in a hoodie and jeans. Meh! I should probably learn to be less self-conscious about looking like a tourist - I'm not self conscious about much, but for some reason, that's one of my weaknesses. Good times anyway. Last weekend I went on a 15-mile walk that included crossing the Golden Gate Bridge (for the first time!) - I'll probably post pictures from that sometime soon. There's just so much to see - it's a bit overwhelming.
One seldom-discussed negative about puppies, is that they simply grow up way too fast. This is little Isolde, whom I got to name (it was the first family dog I've actually gotten to name, although my mother restricted me to German names since she is a German shepherd - not obvious at all). In the photo above, it's October 2007. Below, Izzy in December. Ridiculous. And I suffer disproportionately to the rest of my family because I live all the way across the country. Apparently, she's grown exponentially since the holidays, surpassing the size of our two year-old Golden Retriever. Absurd. Anyway, just a thought - in case any of you are thinking about getting puppies, remember they don't stay puppies for long! (Though dogs are still wonderful long after their puppy days...)
