To say the scenery was beautiful would be an understatement. When a day includes both sweeping views of the Pacific and secluded redwood groves, it’s easy to be grateful to live here in the Bay Area.

The only downside of the day was when I misstepped and twisted my ankle. That wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t have another mile and a half to go. Despite my whining, I survived and by the next day, my ankle was doing fine.

• Weather: Sunny, but with an ocean breeze and a bit chilly in the shaded areas.
• Distance: 7  miles
• Time: 5 hours (including an hour for lunch in Stinson Beach)
• Highlights: Amazing views of the Pacific. Waterfalls. Lush redwood forest.

I never would have imagined such a great park tucked between Richmond and Pinole. The park was expansive and absent of crowds. My only complaint: The park is not far from the Richmond Rod & Gun Club and we spent much of the time listening to the sound of gunshots echoing. That made it a little hard to just relax and enjoy the beauty around us. I’d recommend checking out the shooting schedule before planning a trip.

• Weather: Yet another beautiful, Spring-like day.
• Distance: 4  miles
• Time: 2 hours
• Highlights: Pilings from original pier that was used to load dynamite onto ships at the turn of last century. Monarch butterflies.

• Weather: Another beautiful, Spring-like day
• Distance: 2.7 miles
• Time: 1 hour
• Highlights: Time to catch up with my sister.

We kept driving up hill on Claremont and made it up to Grizzly Peak before we confirmed we’d messed up. Coming back down the hill, we spotted turnout and the entrance to a firetrail and decided to park and start climbing. Once we were done and found a map, we discovered we were hiking on University of California land, rather than East Bay Regional Parks land, and we ended up on the Panoramic Ridge.

We didn’t have too much time to explore, but we found some sweeping views of Oakland and spotted a number of trails worth exploring. On the way back down the hill, we did actually find the turn-off to Claremont Canyon. At some point, we’ll go back to where we intended to begin and see if we can make our way up to where we ended up.

• Weather: Beautiful day, you’d think it was spring.
• Distance: Unknown
• Time: 30 minutes
• Highlights: Quiet, peaceful, no one around. All you could hear (besides our kids) was the creaking of the eucalyptus in the wind. Reminder of how easy it is to “get away” without even leaving town.

Running parallel to one of the trails is part of the San Francisco Bay Trail – so much more to explore.

• Weather: Very chilly, but not raining
• Distance: About 3 miles
• Time: 1 hour
• Highlights: Great views of San Francisco and the opportunity to check out every type of dog imaginable

• Weather: Sunny and warm, but a little hazy
• Distance: 1.3 miles
• Time: 40 minutes
• Highlights: The trail ends in a beautiful grove of old oaks

As part of my New Year’s Resolution, I’ve set a personal health goal of completing one new hike each week. My hope is that the hikes will not only infuse much lacking physical activity into my life, but also remind me how lucky I am to live in such a great part of the world (or at least appreciate wherever I am traveling in a given week!).

To keep me honest, I plan to share my walks here. Today, Ethan, Jeff and I went up to Tilden Park (a 15 minute drive from my house)  and walked the Quarry and Big Springs Trails.

• Weather: Crystal clear day, about 65 degrees
• Distance: About three miles
• Time: One hour
• Highlights: Beautiful views, particularly of the San Francisco skyline and Golden Gate Bridge (see photo). We also spotted a bird of prey, likely a golden eagle.

Seems almost more fitting than usual this year, the year of making change happen. 2011 gave us the Arab Spring, people on the ground using social media to organize a real political revolution. And now, love it or hate it – it’s the Occupy Wall Street movement that’s got people talking.

Smart people (like our good friend Susannah Fox have made the point that unlike those political and economic movements, our mission isn’t an issue we need to raise our fists about – it’s an issue we have the luxury of being able to hold hands about.

It’s a mission that’s driven by all the personal stories we’ve heard of people who’ve seen their loved ones suffer unnecessarily at the end of their lives.

It’s driven by that ripping-off-the-band-aid feeling of relief you get when you’ve finally broached the subject of end of life wishes with your family, free from the burden of just not knowing what they’d want for themselves, and knowing you could advocate for these wishes if your loved one weren’t able to speak up for themselves.

And it’s driven by knowing that this is a conversation that needs to happen early, and often. One of the greatest gifts you can give the ones you love is making sure you’re all on the same page. In the words of the amazing Atul Gawande, you only die once! Die the way you want. Make sure your loved ones get that same gift. And there is a way to engage in this topic with grace!

Here are the five questions, read them, consider them, answer them (you can securely save your answers at the Engage with Grace, share your answers with your loved ones. It doesn’t matter what your answers are, it just matters that you know them for yourself, and for your loved ones. And they for you.

We all know the power of a group that decides to assemble. In fact, we recently spent an amazing couple days with the members of the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care or C-TAC, working together to channel so much of the extraordinary work that organizations are already doing to improve the quality of care for our country’s sickest and most vulnerable.

Noted journalist Eleanor Clift gave an amazing talk, finding a way to weave humor and joy into her telling of the story she shared in this Health Affairs. She elegantly sums up (as only she can) the reason that we have this blog rally every year:

For too many physicians, that conversation is hard to have, and families, too, are reluctant to initiate a discussion about what Mom or Dad might want until they’re in a crisis, which isn’t the best time to make these kinds of decisions. Ideally, that conversation should begin at the kitchen table with family members, rather than in a doctor’s office.

It’s a conversation you need to have wherever and whenever you can, and the more people you can rope into it, the better! Make this conversation a part of your Thanksgiving weekend, there will be a right moment, you just might not realize how right it was until you begin the conversation.

This is a time to be inspired, informed – to tackle our challenges in real, substantive, and scalable ways. Participating in this blog rally is just one small, yet huge, way that we can each keep that fire burning in our bellies, long after the turkey dinner is gone.

Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season. Let’s Engage with Grace together.

To learn more please go to www.engagewithgrace.org. This post was developed by Alexandra Drane and the Engage With Grace team.

I personally completed my Advance Directive as a direct result of the Engage with Grace project. Do you need an Advance Directive to share with your family? You can find them here on kp.org.

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