Sunday brunch in Topanga

A couple of weeks ago Jay and I were given reservations to Sunday brunch at the Inn of the Seventh Ray in Topanga Canyon. They serve a very California brunch, in a very California atmosphere. Brunch consists of a raw bar (for the raw foodists), a vegetarian bar, a pescatarian bar, and the omnivore bar for those who eat everything. The food was all delicious, and there was a lot of it! We also had mimosas.


The restaurant was once a church, and there were beautiful stained glass windows throughout. But most of the dining options are outdoors, on a terraced hillside that leads down to a small stream. We were seated on the terrace just above the stream, and of course there was new age flute music piped throughout the seating areas :). Little tables were tucked everywhere they could find a spot, and the whole thing was actually very charming. Some areas were covered in tents and swag, as you can see in the picture below:
We had a fun time watching the kids play around the stream while very well-dressed parents (most of the moms in 5 inch heels) tried to keep them from falling in.

Topanga Canyon State Park is just a short drive up the street from the restaurant, and it is one of our favorite places to go mountain biking. We drove to the park after brunch and changed from our dress clothes to hiking clothes, and headed out across a meadow. We hiked this time, going on new trails we hadn't yet explored. It was a perfect day for it, and Jay, my shutterbug, took plenty of photos.


He hasn't downloaded those pictures yet, but maybe I can convince him to post some of the newts if they turn out nicely! That's right, newts. We were hiking down into the canyon, where we ended up following a little brook:

When we came to one shaded spot, I noticed a quiet, relatively deep pool near some rocks. I came over and was peering intently, wondering if I could at least spot some tadpoles. It was then a pink creature with four legs and a long tail swam up towards the surface from the leafy bottom. I was flabbergasted - this was far too large to be a tadpole, unless we had been invaded by some giant frog species! I called for Jay. He tried to take pictures, as the bottom of the pool turned out to be home to several of the newts, and although it was difficult to count them (they are extremely well hidden) I think there were at least six, and likely more. They turned out (upon google inspection) to be California newts, and it was their breeding season, thus they were living a few months in the seasonal stream pools where they had been born. We didn't touch them, which I am glad of since they excrete tetrodotoxin. You have to ingest it to die, but it is extremely potent and there was no place to wash our hands well. I know me. I would've wiped my mouth on the hike back and died somewhere on the trail.

It was a fun and relaxing Sunday, and we were very happy to have spotted such an elusive little creature as the newt. I hope all of you have had some nice relaxing weekends as well!