Laguna Beach

A dramatic change of scenery.

Regular readers of this blog know that my usual stomping grounds is the Canadian Rockies.

Due to an opportunity I couldn't pass up, I now find myself in Southern California. It took a lot of soul searching to come to this decision, but so far it has worked out very well and there are many opportunities for more adventures in the mountains in my new locale.

For the Independence Day long weekend, we decided to meet up with a local hiking group to get out, meet new people, and do a bit of exploring. Their goal was to do a quick loop in Crystal Cove state park, followed by a more urban picnic to watch the fireworks off the coast of Laguna Beach.

Hiking along Bommer Ridge Trail

The number of people attending the event was very large (about 25 or so), but only 7 people (myself included) were doing the full loop. The pace was quite blistering, both figuratively and literally, but we re-joined the rest of the group well before sun-down and proceeded to walk into town to find a good spot for the show.

Our vantage point for the show

The fireworks show was quite impressive. From our vantage point, we could see 4 distinct events. Due to the crowds, I set up my tripod early and wasn't able to capture 2 of the 4 shows, but what I got was still pretty good.

I think this was supposed to be a smiley face

I hope to spend more time in the mountains as I learn the area. Hopefully, there will not be any more 3 month delays between posts!

http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/367747302/3101909