Between the Rain Drops & Mucho Mistletoe

Christmas morning, Leah, me and Spain headed out from Spain's condo onto the trail at Arroyo Trabuco. Just an hour earlier it had been a clear Blue cover, but no sooner did we lace up the walking shoes, but Mr.Fog creeped in and hid Blue from us! The temp dropped quickly! Luckily we all had fleece jackets on stand-by. So on with the fleece, ear covers and gloves, some water and gels and off we went....no matter what! It was NOT raining and that meant OUTSIDE! We were so happy to just move! The fog kept the walk shrouded in mystery, wondering what was up ahead. Even though we've been on this trail plenty, we wanted to see what damage the rain had done through the arroyo. We could hear the rage as we walked along but we were a bit high up and not willing to tramp through lots of wet grass. A bit farther down we would be able to check it out. Sure enough, the overview revealed a river, where before had been a creek! All brown and swirling and gushing and well, kind of cool. It felt so good to be near all the nature, we headed down into the lower area and walked along the creek's new pathway it had created. We spotted a nice big cat print, same area we'd spotted the cat a couple months previous. So me and Leah started making this big deep sounds to let the cat know we were big trouble; yeah right.....hahah...our laughter was enough to scare him off! We got as far as the best part of the trail..what's called Ho Chi Minh trail due to the hanging vines and plants and lush, jungle like growth, and were stopped by a mess of brush/trees blocking any further progress. Oh no! Our favorite local mtn bike trail won't be available for a very long time. And who knows what it will look like when it gets cleared up...Well, the 3 hours hiking out there was wonderful nonetheless....Sunday, Spain and I got on bikes and rode from Aliso Woods up the bike path for a 22 mile 'round trip. Wonderful to be on my bike after too much time away. Cool breeze, and all kinds of water crossing and toppled trees along this trail as well. It's uphill going and a fun downhill all the way back. The one bit of dirt trail was just off the main paved one close to home. That's about it for dirt for awhile....with more rain in the forecast, those knobby tires will be tucked away in the garage until......next year!!!!!!!