Thanksgiving day thanks - take a deep breath!

Thanksgiving isn't the same without indulging in some great food and good company. Whether you spend it with family, old friends, new friends, or even by yourself, it's a time to reflect on the year and think about all the great things that have come your way.

Laguna Beach (Photo courtesy of MOH)

And for me, what better way to reflect than against this wonderful backdrop? Seriously, it's as if Southern California didn't get the memo that we're getting near Winter.

It's been awhile since MOH and I have gone hiking and we wanted to go all out. We ended up hiking for 4 hours, trekked 6 miles, and woke up the next day with our legs massively burning.

Laguna Beach has this beautiful park called Top of the World, which is aptly named. The scenery is beautiful, there's scattered remnants of wildlife, and lots of trails to choose from - and the top view is insane. 

We started out our trek with the Car Wreck Trail. This trail was labeled as difficult but MOH and I decided to take our chances. We ended up starting uphill and had to go steadily down a steep path. I slid three times, once officially on my butt. Towards the end of the descend, I just gave up and squatted all the way down (like how you squat to look at an ant up close, and I just slid along the sandy path). If you reach the end of the trail in one piece, you'll see this old car wedged deep into the soil.

The steepness of this hill reminded me of a trail at a Science Camp I attended younger - it was called "hamburger hill" because if you ever fell down the hill, it was said that your face would look like hamburger meat. Not a pretty sight, but you get how steep and dangerous these types of hills can be if you're not careful. 

Hills everywhere!

We got quite a bit of a workout, especially by the way I was trekking down. Since there was a mixture of rocks and sand on the path, I made sure to avoid falling as much as possible by squatting and walking down sideways to balance myself (makes for a great rear/quad workout if anyone's interested!).

One of the really pretty sights was all the trees just sprawled around the park. Groves of trees provided shade to us amid the 80 degree weather (Fall season, right?) while we hiked the Mathis Canyon Trail.

MOH and I love to hike around this time of the year - just escaping away to be closer to nature puts things in perspective and just helps clear our heads. We hiked two main trails before we eventually ran into a separate wilderness park (Top of the World is part of the Aliso and Woods Canyon Park) and ended up taking an alternate route back to the car. It ended up being a super steep hike back up that was probably a little steeper than the hill we descended initially. Our thighs were burning, sweat showered down my face (sexy, right?), and we finished the hike feeling super winded, but accomplished.

Despite the heat and the sweat on my face and pits, this hike was really fun. I enjoy hikes with lots of challenges and this hike definitely fit the bill. It was a beautiful Thanksgiving.

Thanks to everyone who comes across this blog - I really appreciate your support and hope everyone is having a great start of the holidays!