Santa Clarita Weekend Trip

Like I mentioned before, I was just in LA for a nanny job.  The lovely and talented Anna needed a sub, so I took the chance to visit California and to help her out, of course!  She sent me a text a few months back saying that her mom surprised her with a trip to Europe for her birthday (rough...) and she needed someone to sub-nanny her family while she was gone.  Make some extra cash while I'm unemployed AND get a couple of weeks in CA?  OK!
For the weekend between the two weeks, I decided to drive up to Santa Clarita to visit my family.  Con about LA: TRAFFIC.  I'm OK with driving there (I think Utah helped out with that...), but it's the fact that it took me 3.5 hours to go 30 miles is what really ticks me off.  But I got there and it was a nice weekend.   Early Saturday morning, my grandpa and I hiked about 5.2 miles in the mountains by his house.  The sign going into the park read something like this: "Park closed dusk to dawn. All people must be out of the park when dark.  Warning: due to fires and such, we have had an influx of wild animals like bears and mountain lions and they are most active during nighttime."  Yup.  Living on the edge. Another interesting thing about the hike is that it is an oil area, so oil runs like streams in areas where they used to have drills and wells.  That was so crazy to me!  The hike was beautiful and therapeutic.

view from the top of the valley

celebrated his 70th birthday this week, but this hike was a breeze. he's still got it.

at the top!

oil along the trail

I got to have some bonding time with my cousin, Claire, which was so fun!  I watched her horseback riding lesson after the hike and then we got ready to hit up Six Flags Magic Mountain! It was only her second time, so I felt honored to introduce her to some of the "big kid rides."  Between Disneyland, Magic Mountain, Universal Studios, and Great America in California, Magic Mountain is by far my favorite.  Seriously, I want to go to this place until I die.

waiting in line for my most favorite

Sunday morning was more horsey stuff with Claire and then we went to breakfast, just the two of us :)  Then I drove back to the Palisades so that I could get ready for my next trip with the nanny family to San Luis Obispo.

And here is a picture of my grandma's one-eyed cat named Penny, whom I call Winky: