A hike to the beach

This Halloween, we spent the day exploring crystal cove state park. We've been once before and walked along the coast to see all of the beaches, but this time we went into the hills of the park for a hike. 

We parked by the ranger station and popped in to see their displays about animals and conservation efforts in the area. We picked up a map and headed into the park. It had been cloudy on the drive up, but as we arrived it cleared up, leaving us with a sunny day which wasn't too hot and great views of the sea. The route started towards the beach and we could see the ocean below the cliffs, but we turned away and headed uphill for a better view. We found a great stop at the top where we could look out over the water and enjoy a snack. 

The OC

We took a route through the park which took about two hours, up and down through the hills with some great scenery on the way. We did see a large bird of prey, it was too far away to see properly, but having a little look online, it might have been a harris hawk.


Once we'd done the loop and arrived back at the car, we headed down to the beach for a picnic. It was a nice small stretch of beach which wasn't too busy and it was nice to walk along in bare feet after our hike. We kept an eye on the water and were rewarded with a little bald head popping out to say hello. We just saw the one seal, but he was very close to the shore! 

The day before November and we're on the beach!

We got back home just before dark and finally got around to carving our pumpkin we picked a few weeks ago! I'd also bought a big bag of Halloween candy ready for all the trick-or-treaters, but we only had one group show up! So now I have a lot of chocolate to eat...

This week was the first in November which meant that Thursday was the Riverside Art Walk again. This time we went with some of Mitchell's co-workers and got some dinner at the foodlab before walking around all the stalls. It turns out that last time, we missed a whole set of stalls which were set up inside a couple of buildings. We had fun and I bought a scented candle and a bookmark. 


That's it for this week, we did go to a great Day of the Dead festival today, but you'll have to wait until next week when I can write it up properly.

All our love,

Emily and Mitchell

xxxxxxxxxxx

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