So, We Decided We Are Going To Be Outdoorsy

I'll preface this by saying that it took us almost 4 months to make it into the city of San Francisco (we only live 45 minutes away).  When we moved here, we were amazed at all the outdoorsy things to do on the weekend.  Hiking, wineries, beaches . . .  So that's where we were and, for the most part, are focusing our free time—that and getting our apartment in order (almost there!).

Anyway, when we moved here, we literally looked at each other, shrugged and said "Let's be outdoorsy."  We decided to be the kind of yuppy outdoorsy people that "hike" in sneakers and J. Crew shorts and go for a wine tasting beforehand. Oh well.

Anyway, I present our first hiking excursion on October 8, 2011: Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve (Hike #53/60).  Some vitals: Easy 3.6 mile loop trail in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

There were deer at our trail head.

The sky is ridiculously blue where we live.  This photo is no exaggeration.

There was a random bench on the trail.  You can kind of read it in the photo, but here's what it says: "There is great peace in this natural beauty... We must all help to preserve it."

View from the ridgeline. You can see the fog starting to roll in.

There was a short section of the hike that took us through an oak forest.

More brown grass and trees.  In the spring, this hike is supposed to be THE place to go to see wild flowers.

You can really see the fog rolling in on the right.

It almost looked like we were in an airplane.

One of my favorite photos from the hike.

Erik was sneaky and got a photo of me.  Not sure why there's a black box on the top...

And that, my friends, was Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve.