Nature in LA…..who knew.

The thing that I hate most about living in Southern California, specifically Long Beach, is not the crazy traffic, the expensive living or the busy lifestyle…it is the lack of God’s green nature! There is absolutely no where (that I have found at least) in LB, that I can just go to be in nature that is not surrounded by buildings, restaurants, streets or houses! It is a freaking concrete jungle over here! It’s not like good ol’ Nipomo, ca (where I grew up) where there are tons of open fields, rolling hills and Eucalyptus trees aplenty! No one understands this frustration of mine better than my good friend, Allyssa Hendriksen, who grew up in the same area as me.
So yesterday, when Allyssa asked if I wanted to go on a hike with her today, I jumped on that! Although I was dumbfounded at where she was thinking of hiking, I trusted her.
She picked me up bright and early this morn. We sat in the usual 7 o’clock traffic on the 605 and 210, but filled our time with chatting and 90’s pop music. I love that girl! We made our way to the ends of Arcadia and, to my surprise, ended up at what looked like an actual mountain! I was so stoked! We hiked to Sturtevent Falls. It was a beautiful hike! A treasure right on the outskirts of the city!

The most fun I think we had, was finding all the little salamanders! They were so cute and slow! They are like the sloths of reptiles!

I wanted to take one home, but Ruthie would probably eat it.

Even though this was just a tiny waterfall in the midst of a LA mountain, it lifted my spirits and made me not hate ALL of LA soooo much.

Allyssa is SUCH a great friend and I love her and her quirky adventurous spirit dearly!

If y’all ever need to escape this concrete jungle…check out this place : )