"I'm the king of the world!", Runyon Canyon Park; 03.05.11

Park: Runyon Canyon Park 

Address: 2000 North Fuller Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046

Directions: Take the 101 Freeway, and exit on Highland.  Cross the bridge, make a right, which will result the freeway being right next to you.  You will see the entrance to Mulholland Drive to your left, so it's a sharp turn.  The entrance to the park will be about 2-3 miles away.  On your way to the park, there is a chance to stop by on a Hollywood Bowl lookout.

Parking is minimal at about 12 cars designated to the park, but there are tons of street and road side parking.  On a given moment, you can see about a couple of hundred cars here.  Which makes this park people/dog crowd busy on weekends.

The park is about 3 miles round trip, and offers 800-1200 elevation gain depending on which trails you take.  It can be easy (Mulholland starting route, lower level which is what we took) to hard (Fuller starting route, to higher level).

There are two entrances to the Mulholland side of the park, and we took the higher, steeper one; so that it will condition us for the rest of the hike.  The two other car entrances are lower at the Fuller and Vista streets, where you can apparently also buy water and snacks, and free yoga classes are in that area as well. 

The 360' views of this place is amazing; and I love it that: 

1.  As opposed to fully designated off-leash dog parks: Bryan and I don't need to bring the chuck-it to give Tico his due exercise for the day. 

2.  As opposed to other hiking spots, Tico can roam around here freely without leash for most of the time  

So it's the best of both worlds for B and myself, especially today, since we are both nursing our hangover from a night out with Bea, her roommate Raymond, and their friends the night before.  If you've ever used chuck-it's to entice your dog to chase a ball, you know that it takes a toll on your arms to toss a ball 30 feet away a couple of hundred times in one hour.  Add to that a large, 90 pound dog who is ready to jump on you whenever you don't toss the ball in time, cue in other dogs who want to join in the fun, hitting your knees whenever they run in your way, jumping on you to see if you've got food, a free hug, or you face needs cleaning up - - - it's not pretty.  And we're wusses when each part of our body is hurting.

There's a makeshift recycled bag box next to this sign

Runyon Canyon Park is a great dog-friendly park, but do pay attention to the signs all over the place.  There are designated off-leash and on-leash areas of the hike, because some of the paved roads are also used for the local residents to get in and out of their homes.  We kept Tico within our eyesight and no farther than 10 feet away from us, because there's also rattlesnakes, steep cliffsides, thorny bushes and cacti, untended dog poop, uneven dirt roads, and hundreds of dogs and hikers/joggers/kids on this park.  The lower Mulholland entrance has a water fountain, so be sure you fill up before you enter the park.  Bring a poop bag, and trash cans are aplenty at every 100 feet or so.  It still is an unofficial off-leash park, unless you are confident that you can call your dog at a whim's notice when a car does come around.

Water fountain at lower Mulholland entrance

We turned left/lower level from this power line

Free water!

This horse was feeding a goat hay on our way back

Along the way, we came across a couple of dogs with their doggie backpacks.  We had one for Tico during his first year, because I would make him walk around our old neighborhood in Huntington Beach after work.  One of our neighbors asked me what I had in the pack; "was it water bottles? Weights?" to which I shamefully admitted: "2 cans of tomato sauces on each side of the pack" because they were pretty heavy enough to wear Tico out. 

There's many types of people that grace this beautiful park, but the main demographics are the pretty people in their 20's and 30's, some are dressed to the nines with their designer labels sunglasses and their blinged-up gym clothes and shoes, but the rest are like us common folk.  You'll see celebrities here, since it is, after all, in Hollywood.  We didn't see one because we weren't paying attention and they all look alike to me anyway.  There's also young families of three with the baby strapped up to their chests, which I thought was really cute.  There's definitely a lot of fit people today, and it's a recommendable place to get your daily workout. If you come here every day or all the time, I would think it won't take too long for you to get a Matthew McConnaughey (sp?) physique.

We also came across a horse who later was feeding his "brother" goat hay.  That was an adorable sight to see. We also enjoyed seeing the beautiful houses down the hill, there were two houses that are practically next to each other - - one was painted in purple, the other in green.  So I'm assuming the purple one was for Joker, and the green - his ex's.  We are in Hollywood, after all.

You can see the Hollywood sign from every angle on this hike, and to its right is the Griffth Observatory.  At the beginning of this hike, the Sunset Strip is just right below you, and to the far distance is Downtown LA. 

Cactus! Cactuses! Cacti!

We stopped at this summit, where the tall wooden bench is at, and another bench is to the right, we found a spot next to the second bench to rest and enjoy the scenery, and tested our knowledge of LA geography.  On this side, we can see the Wilshire Boulevard, the Wilshire Corridor, Century City, and Westwood Village.  Some people say you can also spot the Catalina Island and Santa Monica Pier from here, but maybe at the higher level, because we didn't.  We enjoyed this spot it's a perfect place to rest, sit down, and join the others who are contemplating on life.

I contemplate on water

I contemplate on doggie snax

I contemplate on chew toys and plush beds

"I'm the king of the world" is a famous quote from the 1997 movie "Titanic".  Our night out last night with Raymond's local college buddies reminded us how it's like to be in your early 20's, and all you want to do besides working and studying hard is to party and drink whenever possible.  Kudos to them, but being in our thirties, Bryan and I are admitted homebodies.  But to be young and have the rest of the world at your feet.  The possibilities are endless, and; like today's hike, you are offered with so much choices when it come to different paths and trails to take in life.  At 38, I have taken countless trail adventures, and have always had wondered the what-ifs. But all in all, I have enjoyed the trail ride and adventures.  And I look forward to more adventures with my two boys - - and possibly a fourth family member along the way.

Year in Review: October - December 2010

WEDDING/HONEYMOON/WHISKERS AND TAILS; NOVEMBER 2010

B and I finally married in November of this year.  It was a perfect day, with great 180-degree views of the blue ocean as our altar/backdrop.  We then headed down the hill at the hotel for a reception with about 70 of our close friends and family.  With all of the planning (I started in June, but really got active in July-August), I hardly have had time to discover new great dog parks or beaches for us to hang out in.  Most of the time, we did the usual Redondo Beach Dog Park and San Pedro Dog Park jaunts.

Here's a few photos of our honeymoon trip to Fort Lauderdale, where we took a cruise to Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Maarten, and the cruiseline's private island in the Bahamas.

During the wedding and honeymoon, we boarded Tico again to Whiskers and Tails.  He was there for about 10 days.  He was already used to the staff around this time, and they told me he always loved to play with the staff, which would have been unusual with the PetSmart staff.  I'm not dogging (pardon the pun) PetSmart, but their pet hotel and grooming are not the best.  Their vets are okay, especially the staff at the Whittier office, where we kept our records because HB's PetSmart are not that great.  And the Torrance PetSmart, which is closer to us in the LA area, are snotty to our dog.  But going back to the Pet Hospital.  I liked that, for $25+\month, we get to have all of his shots current, most of his medicines paid for, some of his surgeries and stuff paid for, and thanks to them, we have a very healthy, happy dog.  And I go to PetSmart for our doggie groceries.  I don't like PetCo at all.  Sometimes, I'd go to Albertson's and Food 4 Less because of the convenience, but PetSmart is my number one choice for everything dog - related food, and toys-wise.  Tico loves Beneful, and Alpo Prime Cuts.  He eats almost any snacks, but the rawhides are always the winner.  When we used to shop at Costco, we'd have groceries shopping for a month, and Tico's groceries are about 1/3 of that.  For a large dog, be prepared to spend a lot on dog food.  Tico eats about 3 cups of dry food, and a can of wet food a day.  He'd eat more if he could, but we try to keep him on a sensible diet.  We never have him eat non-dog food items because he easily reacts on it, and gets the runs immediately.  My black leather car seats have experienced enough abuse from one of those "episodes" for us to know better not to feed him junk food.

RUNYON CANYON (DOG) PARK; NOVEMBER 2010
After the wedding and honeymoon madness, on Thanksgiving morning, we managed to check out Runyon Canyon, which allows dogs to be off-leash.  Tico had a great time.  It took us a long time to find the place, because Yahoo gave us the wrong directions.  The best way to get there, IMO, is to get off on the 101 via Mulholland Drive; and take it up until you see the dog park just up the hill.  But the address, they say is 2000 N Fuller Ave., LA CA 90189.  Amazing views of the greater LA. 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/runyon-canyon-park-los-angeles

Later in the afternoon, B and I went to Rolling Hills Estates, where his grandparent's houses were, and I got to point out where I was earlier this morning (it's in close proximity to the Hollywood sign, so I pretty much knew where the park was, from the pool area of his grandparent's house).  This photo is taken at his grandparents' house during my wedding shower the month before.  Which brings me to some of the pros and cons of living on Main Street.  We are within 20 minutes to just about everywhere, because we are near the 91, 405 and the 105 freeways, but the neighborhood is much less to be desired for.  Across the street from us is the industrial buildings.  Our neighbors are great, friendly and helpful, but we are nowhere walking distance to anything.

THE STRAND/MANHATTAN BEACH, CA; NOVEMBER 2010

The next day, I took Tico to have a nice walk on the strand on Manhattan Beach.  To get there, just take the 405 freeway, exit Rosecrans, make a left on Sepulveda, and right on Manhattan Beach Boulevard and take that all the way to the end.  There are lots of paid street parking, but they, like Huntington Beach, are trying to get away from coins, so don't forget to bring your bills, or debit/credit cards.  We got to see a handful of dolphins on the water playing.  Tico was really well-behaved today, and I was worried since B was not with us. He's a strong dog, and he almost cleared me under the bushes one time when he was chasing after a neighbor's cat.  With all of the dogs, people and cars, I am always concerned what will tick him to go after someone.  The leader leash helps, but I can still feel him leading me most of the time. 

CHRISTMAS 2010:

With a handful of Home Depot Gift Certificates from the wedding, we drove to the local Home Depot that afternoon to get our christmas tree.  We got this 8-footer baby for $40 bucks.  Tico sniffed around for a while, and then just went back to his couch to rest.  We don't have much of an ornaments per say, since I always liked to buy ornaments that meant something to us (this year, I bought a house ornament in honor of buying our house.  I am still looking for a wedding ornament that I'd like).  What we do for decoration instead, is just hang the christmas cards that we receive during the month.   Speaking of ornaments, we also received this year a Hawaiian angel with her aloha dress from Wennie and Jason.  Wennie is a girlfriend of mine who came to the wedding with her husband.  When she got home, she mailed this ornament, along with a couple of Na Leo Pilimehana CD's, as well as Iz Kamakawiwoole's CD; whose songs were featured in our wedding via the ukulele player at the ceremony atop the beach cliff, and during the reception at the hotel.  Another new ornament we got this year is a princess house angel we got from his mom (she sells princess house for a living, and is the top seller in Riverside, where she lives). 



This photo was taken at Redondo Beach Dog Park one weekend.  For $5, we got to have Tico take a photo with I believe, is the photographer's son, and the photographer's granddaughter is the cashier.  It was a cute operation, all they had were some digital SLR camera, and a portable photo printer.  The proceeds went to the park as donations. 

Sunday of the Christmas weekend, we took Tico to Huntington Dog Beach again.  He loved going there.  I took him to Redondo Beach Dog Park the day before, but this place is vast, and Tico can roam around freely and I can toss the ball farther without worrying about running into other people or dog in the way.  And the dog park itself is about 1-2 acres big, it just get crowded, especially on the weekends. 

In HB, it was a high tide because of the storm, but the place is still beautiful.  Tico loved running around with balls, twigs, or whatever he can put in his mouth.  I used to blow bubbles and he used to chase him a lot here, but I keep forgetting to bring them with me each time I think about going back to HB.  B don't care much for the bubbles, but I told him it's non-toxic. 

Tico used to be scared of the water, but now, he is not even fazed by it.  He loves going after his ball in between the waves.  After an hour of that, we drove to Seacliff mall and ate at the local Pick Up Stix in their patio area.  We came home, and Tico was down for the count for the entire day and night.