BRENT'S MOUNTAIN-MALIBU

Steve and I went 'hiking' about two weekends ago to Brent's Mountain located in Malibu Creek State Park. It peaks at roughly 1,800 feet. The catch is that it's an elevation gain of 1,800 ft. in under half a mile. I put 'hike' in quotations because it was actually mountaineering--google that. Yeah. I wasn't expecting it either. Thank God Steve is trained in this and has led numerous expeditions back on the East Coast. On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the most difficult), this hike was rated a 3 by enthusiasts. The first picture is of Brent's Mnt. The red circle is pointing out a 40 foot cross located at the zenith. When we first got out of the car we started laughing hysterically--we were looking for the cross so we knew exactly which mountain to climb and in fact had to get out my binoculars to actually know for sure which mountain it was.

After

dodging falling boulders, climbing up an open cliff face, getting semi-lost, killing black widows, crawling on our stomachs through thick brush, swinging down 20 ft. on tree branches into ravines, having to use our compass, triggering shale slides....we unfortunately did not make it to the tippy top. Part of climbing is knowing your limitations and most importantly, surviving. There is something humbling in knowing that we surrendered to nature only to go back and give it another try, another day.

Before deciding to call it for the day, I snapped some photos looking west from our final resting place. Just over the mountains in the distance is the Pacific Ocean--just look for the marine layer coming over the mountains. Beautiful right? Imagine what the full 1,800 ft. will look like!

Malibu State Park

Saltspring Island

Rhode Island

Philadelphia

Santa Ynez, Universal Studios, and Ry & Ro

Hello again friends and family! As promised, here are some more photos from our last hike in the Santa Ynez Falls in Pacific Palisades (Santa Monica area on the coast). The first two photos are obviously from the hike. The path was essentially a shallow river bed that led through the a forest (and even a bamboo forest) into a deep gorge that you eventually had to rock climb to get back to a 30 foot waterfall  (both pictured here). It was an intense hike which Sarah and I probably won't do again unless we're up for a challenge. It was intense but far from relaxing. 

Also pictured here is the Universal Studios backlot as viewed from where I park when I go to the CSI production offices for meetings and spotting sessions. The building you can spot down the alley between the two hangers (between Stage 28 Left and Stage 22 Right) is the main CSI stage, directly across (you cannot see it from this photo) is the Ghostwhisperer stage.  I'm not sure what the two main stages are on the immediate right and left but perhaps I'll ask next time I head over there. 

Finally, a cute picture of Sarah at the pool at our apartment. Rose, my sister, is in the far left corner kicking her sandals off. Ryan, my brother-in-law, and I were grilling on the shoddy grills. It was so nice to have Ryan and Rose out here for a few days. It made me really miss home a lot--or at least being close to family and friends--but it was so nice having them out here. We had such a great time together--eating, drinking, laughing, cooking, relaxing!! We can't wait to come home this summer and be able to spend some much anticipated time together. Until then, we love all of you and count the days until we're visiting. 

-Al & Sarah

Topanga State Park

Hi everyone! 

It has been a few weeks since we've updated last, but things have been pretty busy with work. Season 9 of CSI is wrapping up in the next 3 weeks, so we've been working overtime to get each episode completed--most times it needs to be delivered in a few days. Sarah and I though are still finding time to go hiking and spend some time together amidst the late nights and hectic schedules. In this post are a few pictures from our hike in Topanga State Park from a few weeks ago. The mountains in the background are all part of Topanga Canyon and the Santa Monica Mountain line--not far from the ocean at all. Even though this was an overcast day, it is still so picturesque. Being so high in elevation, even on a cloudy day we can get some beautiful pictures!

We miss you all....following will be some additional photos of an intense hike we did last weekend. Love you family and friends....

-Alex & Sarah