The best walks

For me, the best walks are not when I'm surrounded by buildings and walking on concrete, although these are the walks I take during my weekly routine here in Downey. No, for me, it's when I'm surrounded by nature and walking on dirt or sand. Downey is surrounded by miles and miles of buildings and pavement in all directions. Unless you travel 20 minutes up the 605 freeway to the Whittier Hills.

Some significant portion of the hills have been set aside as Hellman Park so that the only buildings or pavement are the water towers. Other that that, you can walk for miles and see nothing but green grass, trees, and the city far off in the distance. This is the walk we took on our day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. There are multiple trails through the hills separated for different levels of hikers. We took the more level path called Peppergrass Trail rather than the steeper Hellman Trail.

For a small portion of our day we escaped to see in 360 degrees nothing but nature. What a great time.

Where do you like to walk?

Wooded beauty

Recently, I was up north in Scotts Valley at Mission Springs Conference Center for a week-long training class for my pastor's license. It was a great week of encouragement and learning that I thoroughly enjoyed. But the greatest part of the week was getting to live in the woods along the coast above Santa Cruz. Surrounded by redwoods, pines, colorful flowers, and blue sky, I was allowed to see natural beauty on a constant basis. This is a shot of the main open area of the conference area.



The flora all around the conference center is beautiful and abundant. Even the bees are friendly as long as you don't bother them in their pollen gathering.

"Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."
~ John Muir

The Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary

Have you ever wondered what kind of wildlife inhabits our local mountains?

Well, I recently discovered the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary at the end of a long narrow road in the Santa Ana Mountains. The sanctuary was once the home of Benjamin and Dorothy May Tucker. The Tuckers built the home in 1926, and soon after took steps to attract birds to the area. By 1929, he was so successful that he opened his "bird porch" to the public.

In addition to all the birds (which my phone camera couldn't capture), there is a Native Plant Nursery that sells drought-tolerant plants, and a Natural Science Center with this diorama to illustrate the variety of wildlife in the area. And just to be sure you don't go away thinking all these animals just get along, the display is completed by this rather disturbing figure of a mountain lion about to ruin this peaceful scene.