The Wild Wood Canyon Park is a good place to go hiking.  We park at the entrance and head sharply uphill onto the trail. The track is dusty and very dry.  It only rained one day here in the last 7 months.  That was Halloween. The trail leads along a rising ridge and as we go, views open up, right across LA to the Pacific. Once above the city, you can see the haze that seems to hang permanently over it. If it was foggy, you’d call it smog but fog there is none.

It’s very warm. Water supplies are essential. Still, we meet people running downhill. They look like people who might have run going up too. Great to be young. On the downward trek, we miss a turn and take the road less travelled.  This means 20 minutes of tricky manoeuvring on a slippy, gravelly track but we survive and rejoin the main trail. Soon down. Good hike.

Off to the zoo. I haven’t been to a zoo for years but there is a newborn (one week), hippo, so off we go. When we get to the hippo area there is lots of oooohing and aaaaahing and yes it is a gorgeous little hippo, (if such a thing is imaginable).  The gorillas are active, the lions sleepy, the snakes hiding and all are carrying on much as is normal. A few very enjoyable hours.

Then we head for the Griffith Observatory, which I am really looking forward to.  It’s closed!  Oh well. Have to go for beer instead.