On my last morning at Lisa’s, she and I went for a walk with Chico into some undeveloped land at the end of their street.

Off the leash and out in front.

Ceanothus in bloom.

Determined to grow despite having been mowed pretty hard earlier in its life.

There’s a fire down there. But it’s not close to the house. And the smoke plume got smaller, not bigger, by the time we walked back.

Granite. There’s a little old granite quarry up here. Just like at home. And I think of it as an Appalachian Mountains rock.

And we even saw a hawk.

We had a late-afternoon excursion to the beach, but it was socked in tight with that famous California coastal fog, so we turned around and came home, stopping for an impulsive early dinner at In-N-Out Burger. It was my first time at the venerable southern California chain, and it was quite good. I indulged myself in a double-double burger animal style (two patties with cheese, fried onions, extra pickles, thousand island dressing), fries, and strawberry shake, even though the calorie count of each was clearly posted. We could eat at an outside table (yay SoCal weather!) and I brought Chico from the car to sit with us and share my glass of water. He thought the fries were the best he’d ever had (meaning he ate them when he usually won’t), maybe it was because we ordered them extra-crispy, so I brought home the left over ones for the top of his dinner.

Time to pack things up and get ready to move on to LA for a couple short visits, then on to Santa Cruz on Thursday.