Gaviota

We don't really believe in "new year's resolutions" in our household, but we do believe in making changes where necessary. And if it happens to be on the new year, then what a coincidence. One of our changes we want to make is getting out of the house more and doing something, at least, once a month. "Something" being a small trip or a more costly activity for us, such as a short camping trip or heading to something like the Ostrich Farm. We also wanted to get back into our habit of going on hikes like we did back in New York, and just being more active in general. I'm not particularly happy with the amount of weight I've put on since moving and while a lot of factors were out of my control, I still am somewhat disappointed in myself for letting myself be lazy. Getting out and hiking through the mountains is an obvious way to fix that.

So, on one of my days off, we packed up the old ruck and the pup in the car and headed over to Gaviota State Park to hike one of the trails there. A few weeks ago, I did some research on locations for a session I had and came across all different kinds of trails through there. James had been raving about how gorgeous of a place it was and that the camp grounds were really nice, so it seemed more than convenient to go there. We picked the Wind Cave trail, which lead to these really cool caves in all the mountain sides. Be warned, though. It may only be a 2.5 mile hike roundtrip, but it was incredibly energy depleting. The majority of it was uphill, and not a subtle uphill. It was a pretty steep incline that was slippery, narrow, and taxing on joints. For my knee, it was a little sketchy. Worth it, though. The view from the top was spectacular and the whole trip was beautiful. I have a feeling we'll be going back. Also, fun little tidbit - the beginning of this trail would be perfect for photos ;)

All the photos below are copyright of Danielle Armstrong and are not to be altered in any way or claimed as another's work.