Everybody’s saying adieu to the frazzled year, anticipating what’s to come in 2012. As we all know, ushering one year out and another in is typically done with much bravado. Parties. Celebrations. Traditions. Our festivities, on the other hand, are pretty low-key by design. For us, New Year’s Eve activities depend on the weather. That’s right. And since we’ve had some unbelievably sunny, mild days of late, we talked over lunch about what we’d like to do as our fond farewell to 2011. Simultaneously, we glanced outside and said, “Hike Skyline.”

As soon as we finished eating, we whisked the girls (Doxies) from their naps for a last minute outdoor opportunity. That done, we changed into our hiking shoes and grabbed a bottle of water. Then into the car and onto the switchbacks and beautiful curves up Big Basin Way, arriving at Skyline Boulevard. Skyline is the road that follows the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The winding drive through the redwoods invites weekend warriors to jump on a bike or motorcycle and ride like crazy or just cruise. As we drove north, to the right we could see the San Francisco Bay and the towns that line that side of the peninsula. To the left, the Pacific Ocean glimmered in the distance beyond layers of lush pine and redwood forests. Even after 20 years, the sight of the mountains rolling from one body of water to the other, and the first sighting of San Francisco in the distance, still causes us to ooohh and aahh like kids.

We parked the car at the entrance of the Skyline Ridge trails and headed out. At the last minute, I grabbed a set of ear muffs and my jacket from the back seat of the car, just in case, since the weather can change rather suddenly. After the initial steep climb, the familiar gorge opened up. The hillsides look so different in the winter, with their straw-colored grasses waving in the breezes. In the springtime, however, it’s another scene altogether with the the lavender, yellow, and white wild flowers everywhere. As we rounded the next bend, a stronger, and much colder wind hit us in the face (Good call on the jacket and ear muffs). Our favorite destination is the stone lookout on the other side of the mountain. It was stunning that day as always, bringing a wonderful reflective pause—for us, 2011 was a very interesting year!

After about 30 minutes or so, we headed back. Judging from the growing number of hikers sharing the trail, it looked as if hiking Skyline was a fairly popular choice for closing out the year.

Arriving back at the car, we climbed into the trusty Honda and headed north to Alice’s Restaurant. It’s a rustic place, with cow hide covers on the seats of the cozy booths and picnic tables out front. We slid into the familiar benches on either side of the redwood picnic table and perused the menu. An unusual choice caught our eyes: buffalo burger. The server was kind enough to cut the giant sandwich in half so we could share it. Munching away on our buffalo treat, we watched bikers suit up for their return rides down the mountain—clusters of people buckling gloves at their wrists and stuffing their heads into helmets. A family at the next table shared YouTube videos as they ate. It’s a very casual place and that’s what we like about it.

Sadly, Alice did NOT bake our favorite pie on that last day of the year: upside-down apple walnut. So we settled for traditional apple pie ala mode. It was a nice complement to our special sandwich. Even though the restaurant is named for the Arlo Guthrie song, the fact is, you CAN’T “get anything you want,” as the lyrics promise. But it was still delicious, and a great way to pay tribute to the waning year. What next? Well, Emerson suggested that we take a dog and buzz over the hill on New Year’s Day for a leisurely walk on the beach at Seascape. It was a good call: 1-1-12 Stroll!

Posted on January 2, 2012

Related Story

Before the sun sets: We’ve been talking about hiking up to the top of the hill to watch the sunset for years. It was always part of the story we told ourselves about how life could be at this little Tuscan retreat. This story is also about “out with the old and in with the new.” However, it takes the New Year’s ritual and turns it into an every day event.