Sunday Hike

We are going to Switzerland this summer, so it is really important to get into shape. Luckily we have mountains here to practice on.It was time for a hike up  to the Griffith Park Observatory. Last time I was there it was covered by a cloud. On this gorgeous spring day, many others were hiking up the mountain with us. We started in Fern Dell park, a park that was created back in the 1930’s. In those days it was very popular to make concrete look like wood. So all the railing look like this.Since you can’t touch, here is photographic proof. Re-bar in the middle of what is now a broken log.We started climbing, not only are wildflowers out, the rain has done other damage as well. Look at this rut!The views along the way are spectacular- even through the haze downtown is impressive.The Hollywood sign is always fun to see.The closer we got, we could see a lot of people walking around the building.I feel sorry for people with allergies, this year is especially hard. I have no idea what kind of tree this is, but it sure is pretty.We weren’t the only ones making our way up here. I’m impressed that the dog runs along side the horses. At this point, they are trying to figure out where to park them so they could go inside. Here is the front view, somewhere there is a plaque in honor of James Dean from Rebel Without a Cause, that was filmed right here, shortly after this building was built.Art Deco details that sparkle in the light.Then it was down through Fern Dell park. A tropical slice of heaven in the middle of the city. Joel, the LA native had never been here before. I love introducing him to his city.Can you see the steam coming off the bubbles? My guess is – it’s like the La Brea Tar pits, primordial ooze.A tree fell, was it this winter? Or much earlier and it just hasn’t been cleared out?Once Iencounteredd one Staghorn fern, it appears that they show up everywhere.As is our tradition, finish off a hike with tacos. These are fish tacos from Ensenada Fish Tacos on Hillhurst. Not as fancy as ‘Home’ that had a line down the sidewalk waiting for brunch. We’re sticking with our tradtion of some kind of local taco place.