Week 1: Mt. Hollywood Trail Ride

Seeing as we're already into the second week of the year, I'm a bit late in kicking off this new project, but this idea came to me as most of my ideas do, at the last minute. I decided that, in the spirit of the Year of Yes, I will try to do one thing each week that I have never done before. I also decided that I will do my absolute best to document this novel event here, on my oft-neglected blog. My goal will be to get the weekly post up by Sunday night. I realize that it is Monday, and I have, therefore, already failed to reach my goal. Happily, this is my blog and I make the rules, and I say that I can start today.

My new thing for the first week of 2012 came courtesy of a lovely, thoughtful Christmas gift from my awesome husband. In addition to a Sodastream (two new things - I made my own soda this week!) and a Michael's gift card, Tom gave me a gift certificate for a trail ride with Sunset Ranch.

Even though it's been years since I last sat atop a horse, I often think about how much I miss riding, and I actually have dreams about it all the time. Anyway, I was a little worried that a canned trail ride on a pokey old pony wouldn't live up to my memories. As it turned out, I was pleasantly surprised. It actually felt really good to sit on a horse again, and since I vainly declared myself an "expert" equestrian, I was assigned to Roxy, the liveliest of Sunset Ranch's fleet.

{Sadly, being an expert equestrian does not earn you an exemption from the dorky helmet requirement.}

The best part was that none of the other would-be riders who showed up at the ranch while we were waiting for a guide were hardcore enough to want to join us on the two hour ride, so Tom and I were the only people in our group. Our guide was Lila, a sweet girl from Alabama who moved to L.A. six months ago to pursue...you guessed it, acting. I always thought it was an over-hyped cliché, but Lila was the second person we met that day who had moved here with dreams of seeing her name in lights. Hopefully, one of the many Hollywood heavy hitters who read my blog will be inspired to head to Sunset Ranch and give Lila her big break.

{Tom and Neptune followed by Lila and Tracer}

Our ride took us from Sunset Ranch to the top of Mt. Hollywood, with views of the city, the sea, and the Hollywood sign in between.

The ride was a really lovely way to spend two hours. I could almost forget that I am sharing this city with 3,792,620 other people. [Tangent: The last time that Tom and I were stuck in traffic on the drive from San Diego to L.A., I attempted to distract myself by looking up population statistics about all of the places I've lived. Population density pretty much sums up the differences: L.A. - 8,092.30 people per square mile, San Diego - 4,002.6 people per square mile, Shelburne, Vermont - 294.0 people per square mile.] There were other people on the trail, but on the back of a horse, you are literally and figuratively above it all. That combined with the Roxy's rhythmic rocking gait made for a very relaxing couple of hours.

So, to sum up, week one of The Year of Yes and Doing New Things was a success indeed. I had almost forgotten how very much I like to view the world through a pair of horse ears.

P.S. - Just 'cause they're cute - gratuitous pictures of the ranch's baby chicks.