a rock, not an island

My coworker Andy and I went to Eaton Canyon today after our shifts (he got off at 10, I got off at 12 - I haven't seen him in three weeks!), and after the rain had stopped. He picked me up in a black 1969 Dodge Dart, which was so much fun, and we meandered in the suburbs a little, joyriding our way to an off-beaten path that circumvents the main entrance to the trail. The mountains were shrouded in a fog that portended a storm, but luckily for us not a drop fell while we were on the trail. Once we reached the falls, and upon seeing the swarm of people hanging out there, we skipped going right up to the falls and started our way back. Andy studies geology, so all throughout he told me about the types of rocks that we saw, and how some of the oldest rocks in California are actually at Eaton Canyon. I took us off the path to a lower part of a stream, which is when Andy said 'Let's go look at the dikes (the dark grey rocks striated with white)' and then he explained how the faster cooling rocks offset the slower cooling ones and what each kind of rock had which minerals. We saw a large outcropping of prickly pear and Andy tried one, miraculously without pricking himself, and after washing his hands in the creek and landing back on the bank he smiled and said 'We should do this again.' Which really is the phrase of the month/season.