I got an early start to the day and headed down to 1000 steps beach in Laguna Beach.
Started my morning with some oceanside yoga and then devoured some fresh peas and hummus while reapplying sunscreen every 30 minutes and finishing Jeff Seymour’s book, Life as as Actor. After a few hours I knew it was about time I kick it before my body began to resemble a freshly cooked lobster.
As I headed back to Newport Beach, without much of a plan in mind, I saw a road sign for Laguna Canyon and hung a quick Roger off of Highway One. After driving for a few minutes I could see mountains on my left; I pulled over at a vet clinic and did some research. There was a hike through the park only a couple miles up the road. Game on. Before I started on the path, I signed the book and posted it on Facebook incase someone had to find my body later.
The hike was pretty steep to begin with. I also realized that I was wearing shorts and that I was in the wilderness so it clicked that I may encounter a snake. The fear set in pretty hard. But then I ran into this old man who was jogging the trail and he eased my nerves by telling me that he hikes this trail often and only sees about 2-3 snakes a year, and though it’s the perfect weather for them to be out, I was more likely to die in a car on my way to the hike than I was to die from a snake bite. Thanks man. Thems encouraging words right thur.
The hike itself was gorgeous. There was a small natural lake called Barbara lake in and amidst these vast mountains covered in varying shades of green.
Also, after seeing the old guy doing it, I figured I might as well pick the pace up to a casual jog. Never thought I’d find myself jogging in my hiking boots, but alas, there I was. As the trail came to an end, I decided I wasn’t done yet, and I still had about an hour until the park gates closed, so I veered off to the left to take another trail and overhead were these huge birds, couldn’t tell you what they were, but they flew so close to me! It was stunning to watch. I truly felt like I was trespassing on their untouched land for a moment, but that they were sharing it with and showing it off to me.
After pausing to get the perfect selfie on top of this mountain, I headed back down to the car and made my way back to Newport. The idea was that I’d find a beach and catch the sunset, but I had to pee, and I didn’t want to pay for parking. I ended up driving around for so long that I missed the sunset, but I did find a washroom and some gelato, so in the end, I still won.
On the way home I decided to pick up a bottle of wine… but in the states, you buy wine and cigarettes in the same location, and having remembered the refreshing taste of a Camel Crush, I caved. But that pack lasted me the rest of my trip even until my return to Toronto, so I still consider myself an occasional smoker which is on the road to giving them up completely. So I’m still winning.
Back at Mary Beth’s we enjoyed that bottle of wine, aaaand the one she had in the fridge, while we sifted through the family tree and everything fell into place. I finally understood how I was connected to all of these incredible people I’d been meeting. Somehow with this newfound knowledge, they all suddenly felt less like distant relatives, and more like family. Then, in honour of our family heritage, we let a group of handsome Irish men on TV sing us to sleep.
