37.2-53.4

april 23

16.2 miles

We woke up at sunrise to two birds shrieking at each other. Relationships are hard across all members of the animal kingdom. The birds serve as another reminder to how thankful I am to have a partner that similarly values peace.

We continue our climb up until the Laguna mountains- named for the two natural lakes that reside on the summit, which is a rarity in this part of the country. We get to a little French bistro at the summit of the climb and order two croissant breakfast sandwiches from the ponytailed, heavily accented, Frenchman who owns the establishment.

We also resupplies at the local general store- 80 dollars each for 1.5 days of hiking food. Supply and demand. The demand is high, and the supply is low.

We end the night on a long series of ridge walks which airplane views of the anza borrego desert below.

The wind is tremendous. Amber hates it. She is pushed side to side and has to fight with every step. We find a barely protected little nook amongst the chaparral and set up our tent. It falls down 10 times over the course of 3 hours before I get fed up and just drape it over us.

I am going to start a podium ranking of the best meals of the trip that I will update when a podium placed meal is defeated. Thus far-

Gold- jalapeno cheeseburger and acai bowl from Lake Morena Malt Shop. Acai bowl is the star of the show here. Frozen acai puree covered in sliced banana, granola, coconut and a honey drizzle. It gave me the illusion of a healthy choice while being delicious and refreshing. Burger and fries are burger and fries.

Silver- peak fuel freeze dried beef stroganoff bought for us by the lovely nurse practitioner at our clinic Elizabeth. This is a partly sentimental choice, but also a very delicious fat bomb. It has 48 grams of fat, and I added a small package of olive oil to it. It felt greasy on my lips and slid down my throat. I like that.

bronze- croissant breakfast sandwich at lake morena French cafe. This will get ousted soon. It was cold and not very good, but the croissant was flaky and I very much enjoyed the heavily accented Frenchman.