Fun is no alien concept when she makes the plans

TRICIA HELFER was spotted by a Ford Model rep at 16 outside a movie theater. Soon she was Ford’s “supermodel of the year,” and a string of acting gigs followed. (Shades of Lana Turner being discovered at a drugstore counter?)

Now, she stars as alien No. 6 on the Sci Fi Channel’s breakout hit “Battlestar Galactica.”

Back on Earth, she lives in L.A. with her husband, Jonathan Marshall, and three cats.

It’s casual-dressy

We’d get started on a Friday by meeting friends for drinks at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, and then we’d drive to Cynthia’s on 3rd Street for dinner. It’s a fairly small place, kind of casual, but casual-dressy, if you know what I mean.

I like the chicken and dumplings, and they make the most amazing cobblers -- just delicious.

After that we’d go straight home. I lived in New York when I was in my 20s, and I got all of that late-night stuff out of my system.

Gym rat

On Saturday morning I’ll get up, have a quick yogurt and latte and then go to the L.A. Sports Club in Beverly Hills.

After a good workout, I’ll stop at Cheebo on Sunset in L.A. for lunch. It’s an Italian restaurant with a very cool, eclectic vibe. It gets loud at night too; sometimes they have a guitar player performing on this little balcony.

But at lunch it’s a bit more calm. There are great pastas, pizzas and salads, all organic, and I love the romaine spear bruschetta and the salad with wild salmon.

In the afternoon, we’ll go see a movie at the Grove. In the evening, we’ll go to a friend’s house and then maybe have dinner at Sushi Roku on 3rd Street, which even when it’s busy has this great Zen quality to it. I love their amazing eggplant and black cod, but I usually skip dessert. If I have too many, I can’t fit into my costume.

Miles to Nowhere

On Sunday morning I’d get together supplies for a nice 10-mile hike.

I love to stop at Joan’s on Third, a gourmet shop that feels kind of like a New York deli. It’s got a little place to eat and a wonderful selection of cheeses. So we’d pick some snacks, drinks and sandwiches, and then head for the mountains above Azusa, where they have the Bridge to Nowhere hike, which is quite intense, probably not for beginners.

There’s a river crossing, and about four miles in there’s a bridge that has “1936” on it. There’s a 150-foot drop where they do bungee jumping. You can crawl down to a beach area at the bottom with cold, crystal-clear water.

There are rapids and a waterfall, and on a hot summer day it’s just amazing.

On the way back from the hike we’ll be craving chips and margaritas, so we’ll stop at Senor Fred in the Valley. I’d have the chicken tortilla salad and a margarita or two, and they usually have a game on.

In the evening, maybe we’ll go out to a place like the Troubadour and see my friend Rhett Miller perform. He does kind of folk-rock with a country twang. That would be a nice ending to the day.