The Bridge to Nowhere

 This weekend was the Riverside festival of lights kick-off event, and as I get free parking downtown, we decided to go and see the event. Coming straight from work, we both missed the opening ceremony (although I was able to see the fireworks from the big library windows) but we managed to meet up with some friends and see some of the live music and all of the many, many people who had come from across the Inland Empire to see the lights. 

We saw the lights and all the stands selling hot chocolate and gingerbread, and the ice rink, but we will be coming back again during the season when it's less busy to take part fully. 

We then went out for dinner with the group before driving them home. 

The next day we went on a day hike in the Los Angeles forest with Stephie and Milan. We arrived and got the last parking spot, and started on the trail. 

The first part went along an exposed trail, but the sun hadn't hit yet, so it was still pretty chilly. We soon entered the trees and started to follow the river. The fun part of this trail came next, the river crossings! Four times we put on our water shoes and crossed through the calf deep water. It was fast water, but not too bad as long as we picked the right places to start. 


We also passed some very thin trails, with steep drops to one side and even some gaps where previous winter rains had washed away the path. It was a very fun trail, with lots of different areas to explore and without much elevation gain, so even though it was another 9 mile hike, it didn't feel as tiring as the one we had done the week before. 



The very end of the trail was a bridge which was built into the mountains with nothing on the other side, giving it the name "The Bridge to Nowhere". There were even people bungee jumping off of it, and we watched them jumping as we ate our lunch. 

After eating, we started back down, redoing the crossings and made it back to the start just as it got dark and the stars were coming out. 

This week we also both had potlucks, me with the garden, and Mitchell with his improv group. We both made veggie sausage rolls, and mine went down so well, Angela took the whole box home with her. 

Until next time,

Emily and Mitchell,

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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