That's not smog, that's MARINE LAYER

So, this weekend, I took my NYC friend Kate to the Sunset Ranch stables, and we took a little ride along the ridge between the Hollywood Hills and the San Fernando Valley.

My horse, Tonto, was ornery in that way that stabled horses can be sometimes, but I showed him who was boss (me!) and he was fine after that. We saw a very hungry looking coyote on the trail who trotted away from us quickly, and then paused for a moment on the edge of a ravine very picturesquely before disappearing into the chaparral. No doubt he had other fish to fry.

Our guide was a very unspoiled dude who grew up on his family's ranch in Fresno. He spoke of LA as if it still completely mystified him how people managed to get around such a place. He told us he did some competitive riding in Industry Hills. He looked about 40, but he was so tanned and his squint wrinkles were so deep that he could easily have been 10 years younger. At one point, as we were riding along side of a hillside that had been cut away for the trail, he confided that he would look through the exposed layers of earth for glints of gold. It was a habit he had gotten from his father, who would send him into streams on their ranch whenever he saw a suspicious glint. It was usually fool's gold, he said. He then ran his hand along the earth wall and speculated that (and I quote), "there's gold in these here hills."

At that point, Kate looked back at me with her "Did you hear that?" face. I mouthed the words "I'm in love" back to her.

Sometimes, living in LA sure doesn't suck.