Choosing the long way around

Step outside my front door, and you're on a major thoroughfare.  Depending on the time of day, traffic could be whizzing by or slowed to a stop.  But just out the back door is a serene and lovely view of the Hills.

I live at the edge of the Hollywood Dell, a little neighborhood tucked in the Hollywood Hills, just below the reservoir, where on a morning stroll most of the neighbors I come across are the furry, four-legged variety.  And not just dogs being walked by their friendly owners, but I also might spy a pack of wild rabbits, hopping from yard to yard.  Lizards dart past my feet, and I wonder if I tried if I might catch one and give it to my nephew, Ethan.

I walk in this neighborhood nearly every day, mostly for recreational purposes.  To take in the chirping of the plentiful birds nestled in the thick green foliage, to have a moment of quiet and give Callie a chance to stretch those aging legs.

But lately I've been taking the back route for a different purpose:  to go to lunch, see a movie at the Arclight or take the Metro downtown.  For the longest time, when I didn't feel like driving, I walked down the hill on Cahuenga, hurrying as fast as I could through the underpass.

A New Yorker turned Angeleno, there are some lifestyle activities that are hard for me to leg go of.  Walking is one.  And so it was yesterday as I headed out for lunch at Umami Burger in Space 15 Twenty.  The sun was shining gloriously overhead, so instead of pulling the car out and wasting the gas to drive a short jaunt down the hill, I decided to stroll down Holly, a street lined with a canopy of Jacaranda trees that drop fragrant violet petals when the wind blows.

Fifteen minutes later, I found a seat in the courtyard and ordered their Hatch Burger -- perhaps possibly the best burger in the world.  (I am always profoundly disappointed that I don't have room to order a second round, it is that good.)  After the meal, I enjoyed a fabulous walk back to my apartment at the top of the hill.  And the calories from the Hatch?

I walked them off.  So there's no guilt.