This one about some of the nearby essentials… again, so you can picture where we are. We live about 15 seconds off of Lake Avenue, which is a big street. So it was easy for (even) me to figure out how to get to the Post Office and grocery store. We also discovered that the library is SUPER close to our apartment—YAY!!! It’s got quite the landscaping; funny, because it isn’t particularly big. But it’s nice, and we are both official, card-carrying members! *happy sigh* I actually took Soph down that way to time how far it was (we found it when we were driving home), and it took less than 5-minutes door to door. Pretty rockin’.

Altadena is right at the foot of the San Gabriels—I mean RIGHT at the foot. Actually, Lake has a pretty steep grade. And if, instead of turning off on our street, you keep going… in about two minutes you hit Farnsworth Park, and in less than two more you can park and hike in this giant reserve-type area. Oh yeah. Can you see me smilin’? Cuz I am.

We checked out the hiking area with Bamberg, and have been back since to explore a little more. It will be a long time before we run out of trails and sights—and we look forward to continuing to explore. We were warned that snakes come out when it gets warmer, but also learned that the rattler is the only poisonous snake out here. So no nebulous worries about random snakes!

Farnsworth park seems like a pretty popular community park. We’ve played tennis (heh—badly) there several times, other times we’ve just walked and explored a bit because it was busy. There are also LOTS of little lizards to chase—they like to sun on the shrubs near the court. We haven’t caught any yet, but sure have fun trying! The other day we heard this BIG racket and discovered parrots shrieking in a tree… they must have escaped from somewhere, but it was fun to see them. We also just discovered Eaton Canyon Park—5-minutes by car—that we are anxious to explore soon.

I think that’s all I’ve got… hopefully it does the job as an update! My goal for next week is to get hoppin' on the job search thing. Love you all, and hope you take me seriously when I say we’d love to have you come visit!!

Miss ya.