It’s been a rough couple of weeks at work for whatever reason and Donna and I were really just ready to get out of town for a weekend, even if we didn’t go very far. The weekend started with Buddy’s usual Friday night walk, which we managed to do with ample sunlight after I was able to get out of work at a very reasonable hour.
Saturday morning, Buddy new something was up. We were packing a suitcase and although we had his leashes, we didn’t have our hiking shoes or camelbacks on.
Of course Buddy and I had to kill a little time while Donna made sure she was ready for the weekend.
Our first destination, after dropping Buddy off at The Barkley, was the LA Zoo. We really lucked out, getting there early enough before the heat started to come in. As a result, a lot of the animals were up and about, doing their thing as opposed to just napping in the shade.
Right at the get go, we caught the zoo keepers feeding and training the seals.
Ok, maybe not everyone was so active. These guys were awake and eating but preferred to show us their rear end, instead of their faces.
The rhino was really cool – literally. Right as we walked up, he made his way to the swimming pool for a dip.
While traffic on the way in was really light, we weren’t so lucky on the way back. LA’s typical traffic was in full swing for the drive from LA to Agoura Hills, where we were staying for the night.
Once we got back to Agoura, we checked in at the hotel, relaxed a bit and looked up some movie times. We caught a 4:35pm movie (The 5-year Engagement) then headed across the street to Olive Garden for dinner. The movie wasn’t that great but dinner was perfect – only a 5-minute wait for a table, a friendly server and both our entrees were really good.
Sunday we made the mistake of picking Buddy up BEFORE going for our hike. After a day in day camp and a night in a not-so-familiar place, he was tired and grumpy. We headed to Paramount Ranch for a hike – an area we had never explored before. The old western town, where they’ve filmed a number of western movies, was littered with tents from a Saturday event. The white tents took a bit of charm off the setting, so we didn’t spend much time exploring that.
The trails were pretty and scenic, but short. Within 45 minutes we had hiked the entire thing, had a bad encounter with an equestrian, had a grumpy dog who wanted to go home, so we just called it quits.
Once we were home and Buddy was back in his comfort zone (and fast asleep) Donna figured we could head to the coast for a picnic. We stopped for sandwiches and headed to Point Mugu, where we soaked up some sunshine, enjoyed each other’s company and watched the waves pound the rocky coastline.
