beautiful views, delicious food

i go hiking pretty often, probably average one 3.5 mile hike about once a week.  or i will at least go on the elliptical.  i'd say im in okay shape.  good enough to do a hike described as moderate to strenuous.  i'd hiked mt. whitney when i was in high school, so i thought "hey, 8 mile loop?  NBD."  maybe i was a little be ambitious.

the 8-mile loop at andrew molera state park is actually 3 trails combined - starting with the ridge trail, then the panaroma trail, finishing with the bluffs trail.  we did the whole hike, and i'd totally recommend the hike, but if i were to do it again i might do a few things differently.  like wear pants.  and better shoes.

the ridge trail - lots of uphill.  beautiful views and you get some shade from some huge redwood trees, but the uphill part was hard.  like the hardest part of debs park times 10. 

once you get to the end of the ridge trail you have a beautiful view as a reward!

the problem with traveling as a couple - you rarely have pictures together.  we set the timer and put the camera on a bench for this. 

and then you start the panorama trail.  by the name of it you'd probably say that this hike would offer amazing views.  and it does.  it also offers the best chance to get poison oak since the trail is overgrown for quite a while.  and i'm talking so overgrown that at some points i wasn't sure if we were actually on a trail or just walking through bushes.  i'd invest in some of those awesome pants-that-zip-into-shorts deals (nerd alert!) if i was gonna do this hike again.  i probably spent more time staring at the trail trying to avoid poison oak than taking in the beautiful panoramic view (but i did get some lovely pictures none the less!).

view from the panorama trail

california condor - an severely endangered species, but i probably saw about 8 the entire trip!

the bluffs trail - the easiest trail of the three with some great coastal views.  in fact i would say this is a SUPER easy hike.  but then we did it at the end of the uphill ridge trail and overgrown panorama trail so maybe it just seemed a lot easier.  i'd also say this trail is shorts approved, with very little poison oak.

head to toe lululemon, its addicting - cool racerback, power within short

after the 8 miles my knee was throbbing with pain, i probably need real hiking shoes.  we ate our picnic lunch in the shade and then right back to the cabin and into the the shower to wash off any chance of poison oak.  so far i haven't seen any (whoo).  we took naps and then went to dinner at nepenthe, which has just as beautiful views as the hikes with basically no effort and you can eat amazingly delicious food.   we got there just in time for sunset, and even with the fog rolling in it was beautiful!  

madewell cardigan, iris basic dress, american apparel pouch, diy vanessa mooney necklace 

after waiting like an hour for a table (which was okay since we were like zombies from the hike) we sat down an amazing meal on the outside patio. 

laura chenel goat cheese with whole roasted garlic

house salad with the house blue cheese dressing.  so yummy!

rib eye steak with chimichurri sauce and garlic mashed potatoes

we ended the night back at the campfire with wine and smores.  such a good weekend that went by way too fast.  i think i could have had one more day - maybe to just get an inner tube and float down the river.  next time!