Kyle and I decided to go on Friday up to Zuma Canyon. It was just the two of us - with two trail guides from the Malibu Riders - so it was a perfect personal trip up the trail. It was really nice because we could take as much time as we wanted to enjoy the scenery - the mountains, the breathtaking view as we overlooked the ocean and the valley and the expensive Malibu celebrity homes beneath us. It is unbelievable how vibrantly green the landscape is, especially considering it is early January. I think (even for SoCal) it was even more beautiful than usual - probably due in part to the several weeks of rains that moistened the soil and nourished the plants.
Because it was just the two of us, we could also spend an obnoxious amount of time trying to get a picture of the two of us together on the horses.
It sounds easy right? You just have the horses walk up next to each other.
Except it isn't. Kyle's horse wasn't a huge fan of mine, and the trails weren't very wide so we tried to direct the horses over to this little clearing slightly off the trail, but then you had to turn both horses around to face the camera and then get them to stand next to each other and not move, and then both of us had to be looking up and smiling at the camera, not looking down trying to control the horse. Honestly, our guides probably should have recorded it. I'm sure it was quite the spectacle. The awkward picture below is about the best shot we got together. It would actually be pretty cute if it wasn't so bright.
The mountains were just beautiful. We just kept climbing and climbing. I wish I knew the elevation we eventually got to. I can't imagine how much work it had to be for the horses. Better them than me. Though, on our trip down, my horse slipped into a hole and limped for a few steps as we continued the descent. I was very concerned I was going to be hiking the Malibu mountains that afternoon - though hiking down would be preferable to hiking up! Nevertheless, it was a relief when he livened back up and started voluntarily trotting.
On our drive back home, after picking the ticks off our clothes, we saw a sign for a beach cafe off PCH (Pacific Coast Highway).
Both hungry, we decided to stop, and we couldn't have picked a more perfect place had we yelped it. (I'm not sure if yelp is ready to be a verb like google, but in my book it is).
It was called Bob Morris' Beach Cafe and it wasn't lying when about the beach part. We sat outside but not on an outdoor deck or patio - literally the tables are set out on the beach, the sand beneath your feet. (This was our table).
You can sip strawberry margaritas overlooking the ocean, waves crashing against the shore.
It was a beautiful little secluded beach called Paradise Cove. Saw dolphin fins not far from the shore - a perfect evening, and I couldn't have asked for a better finale to a breathtaking day.
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