Wow, September has come and gone so quickly! We’re one week into October and I’m finally getting around to wrapping up the little bits of fun we had during this past month. Some day I’ll actually post about my “weekday” schedule including work and what I do each day when I head to the office, but for now I’ll stay focused on the “fun” we have on all the other days!

September

We took some more fabulous hikes this past month. Our favorite hiking trail is still at the Longridge Open Space Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Trailhead for Longridge Open Space Preserve

It’s the end of summer and the hills are as golden as they’re going to get. I love the contrast in the colors of the gold grasses, the green forest and the blue skies.

Longridge Open Space

Longridge Open Space

San Francisco

We also took time this month to spend a couple nights in San Francisco (our favorite city) and get in a hike in one of our favorite “urban hikes” areas Golden Gate Park. Did you know there’s a Bison Paddock in Golden Gate Park? Well, you do now.

Bison Paddock

What fun it was to watch these beasts roam around like they’re out in the wild.

Bison Paddock

We’ve been very lucky with the weather when we visit San Francisco. The days always seem to be gorgeous, clear and a bit warm!

Golden Gate Park

You never know what you’ll see in the park. This time we ran into this cute little family stalking us along the trail.

raccoons in Golden Gate Park

We took our hike towards the coast this time stopping to enjoy the views at Ocean Beach. Again, a gorgeous day to be there. Here’s Jimi pointing north to the Cliff House.

Ocean Beach SF

As we headed back inland towards the city, we paused to enjoy the beauty of the windmill and flowers at the tulip garden in Golden Gate Park.

Tulip Garden

tulip garden

We also stopped by this little pond where, because you know I LOVE turtles, I had to take this shot of turtles on turtles on turtles.

turtles in GGP

After our “urban hike” through Golden Gate Park, we headed over to our place on Nob Hill. We are simply loving our timeshare in San Francisco and so happy the location is close to where we live so we can visit often. Here’s a view out the front window of our place – notice the cable car tracks.

view along Powell St

One thing we love about this place is it’s an easy walk to the Cheesecake Factory on Union Square where we can get our favorite vegan cobb salad!

vegan cobb salad

The next morning, before our return to reality, we took a morning walk through North Beach. Another beautiful day and another beautiful area to take photos.

view from North Beach

view from North Beach

view from North Beach

Homefront

This month, on the homefront, I made a couple of tasty vegan items including these delicious pizzas.

vegan pizza

These are vegan BBQ chicken pizzas made with a cornmeal crust, Follow You Heart mozzarella shreds, vegan grilled chicken strips, mushrooms, green onions and lots of love.

vegan pizza

Just DELICIOUS!

AND, the Fall baking started with a BANG around here after our friend Mickie dropped off a basket of apples from her orchard. How can you resist making a pie at that point?

apple pie

So yummy!! I add a little apricot jam and chopped walnuts to my apple pies. What little secrets do you add to yours?

Well, that wraps up my view of life in Lita’s World this month. I hope all of you had a fabulous month of September also.

In a week we head on a once-in-a-lifetime 3-week trip of Central Europe and I CAN’T wait!! You can be sure I’ll have lots of photos and adventures to share along the way. I hope you’ll follow along.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

Lita