Michelle

- Monterey Cypress and Monterey pine trees filled this reserve - orange algae protect the cypress trees from pests - saw harbor seals from afar sleeping on Seal Cove - walked around Moss beach trying to find sea animals in the tide pools but just a few snails

- relatively flat hike - greener than I expected - huge waves at the beach at the end - signs of flooding risk

- open marsh at the beginning from Mill Valley to Downtown Sausalito - lunch stop at a deli in Sausalito, waited a bit for our "Grandpa" and cubano - Saturday crowd in downtown Sausalito, much more diverse crowd than Mill Valley - lots of hill climbs and downhill, SF style - at bike only traffic circle, did a detour to the other side of Mill Valley - golden hour on the way back, beautiful weather and scenery

- so many stairs - cold spell lifted as we climbed up the stairs - mostly retired ppl on the stairs

- Lunar New Year's Day 2 is much more like LA typical weather - came here during golden hour so very nice lighting - rattlesnake sign but thankfully no rattlesnakes - wrentit sightings along the trail - gigantic mountains to the right and lake to the left - a few people with fishing poles along the lake - surrey and kayak rentals on weekends only

- in need ot exercise so decided to walk in San Gabriel where most ppl drive - Walked to a Vincent Lugo Park and everybody was quite friendly saying hi - great community of older Asians exercising using park's equipment and doing Tai Chi - nice trail along the "river" resulted from yesterday's rain - Merlin ID app detected a lot of birds - Started raining again as we headed back

-first bike ride of the year ended up in Hollywood, Fl - most bike rental shops are closed on Sundays for some reason - got bikes on the Broadwalk but no helmets - busy bike traffic along the beach with all kinds of bikes rented from the same shop "The Bike Shack" - electric bikes and fat tires were common sightings - realized fat tires are for beach sand - so many cars with Quebec license plates in the parking lot - crossed the bridge to get to Anne Kolb Nature Center - some rocky mountain biking 🥵 - went through West Lake Park to go into the quiet streets of Hollywood Lakes - signs of banning short term vacation rentals - fulfilled the dream of biking on Hollywood Blvd - crossed another bridge back, many people walking on it with beach gear, smart no need to pay for parking - less crowded on the other side of the broadwalk

-chilly morning with fleece on - so much uphills, fleece is no longer needed - Peralada was still waking up when we passed by - got over some medium hills to get to Garriguella - nice break with cortados on the main street of Garriguella - bar filled with locals eating breakfast mostly a sandwich with ham or egg ( francesa) - ready for another climb - restaurant in Mollet De Peralada is still closed, doesn't open till 12:45pm - stopped by a winery started by young people - lots of cars with "E" parked in the lot - peeked inside and saw groups doing wine tasting - today is a Saturday so mostly young people doing the wine tour - we got a white and red grape juice bottled on site - lunch in Cabanes was quite adventurous with no written menu so we got by with our limited Spanish - most ride today was on the road so a lot more road bikers passing by at higher speed - traffic increased as we approached Figueres, Dali's hometown

- customized loop day for us today, need to rest those legs 😂 - dude at bike shop said Empuriabrava is like Venice but it felt more Fort Lauderdale to us 😂 - scenic beach towns with hilltop houses on one side and the sea on the other side - Houses by the beach look like the ones in Florida or Los Angeles - so many French license plates 🇫🇷 - also some German license plates 🇩🇪 - beautiful backdrop of the Pyrenees - cut through a park to come back with a few cars

- back on the fields with apple, pomegranate and olive trees for our morning ride - the clouds are ominous - stopped at a castle in Bellcaire and learned about their internal conflict and eventually took over by the French - it was an uphill ride to the castle so not going back down to cortado in Bellcaire - spotted some bikers in front of a cafe in the town of Albons - got cortado as usual, locals at the cafe doing a zoom call - some drizzles but the sun came out eventually a bit windy heading to the Greek and Roman Ruins in L'Escalaa - the ride by the seaside was fantastic - the Greek ruins predates the Parthenon - rectangular tanks digged for storing fishes - statue of Greek god of medicine - Asclepius was made with two different kinds of marbles for the body and the drape - Roman city of ruins had nice bath house - and well-preserved mosaics too - lunch in Sant Martí right next to the church on a hill( again) - tried their local specialty L'Escala anchovies with tomato bread 👌 - pizza was exceptional with its own kick - the windy ride began after lunch 🥵 - just keep on pedaling on the open fields - some hikers on the way must be doing GR-92 - later found out "traumantana" north strong wind is common in autumn and winter - a relief once we arrived in the town of Castelló d'Empúries