California, Part 5 - Muir Woods

My wife found Muir Woods. When we were heading for California with the family, and she knew she'd be staying an extra week for work, a picture of redwoods popped into her head, and our fate was sealed. Seeing the woods was our main goal -- nothing else about the time spent in the Bay area mattered. We disregarded San Francisco -- yes, we went there, but that comes later, because our whole stay was centered around seeing amazing trees and nature. Muir Woods.

We stayed nearby in Muir Beach, in a cottage that was absolutely perfect. Here's the view from our deck that morning when I woke up.

Muir Woods gets crowded fast, but when you're already north of the bridge and down the road from it when you wake up, you can beat the crowd. We barely dealt with anyone during our three hours in the monument. Instead, we just spent time with this:

Wife for scale.

Thank goodness for John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt. This was the most impressive, significant, powerful place we visited. If you've ever put it on a list of things to do in life, then move it to the top.