Road Trip 2014 {Muir Woods}

Road Trip 2014 {Muir Woods}

June 18th was a BIG day on our road trip.  Do you ever have one of those days where you see and do so much that you feel like you've fit an entire week's worth of stuff into one day?  That's how the 18th felt for us.  We started the day north of San Francisco at Muir Woods near Mill Valley and Corte Madera, and then we ended the day in Monterey, California.  In between those two amazing places we went to a baseball game in Oakland.  I still can't believe we did all of that in one day!

Muir Woods was one of those places that we loved so much that we hated to leave.  We all wanted to spend more time there.  We were only able to hike a few trails, but everything we saw made a lasting impression.  I think I said on Instagram something along the lines of, "Once you take a walk in Muir Woods, no other walk in the woods will ever compare."  We were unable to visit Redwood National Park because of our travel itinerary.  We couldn't get to where we needed to go if we stopped there in northern California.  I was disappointed that we would be so close and not visit it, but once we saw Muir Woods, I was over any sadness for missing Redwood National Park.  Mark had read the history of Muir Woods before we visited and told me about it.  Muir Woods is a special piece of land with majestic, enormous, old-growth Redwood trees that were saved from logging.  The land was purchased by William Kent and then he donated it to save the trees.  He suggested it be named to honor John Muir because of his conservation efforts. We were familiar with John Muir because of reading about National Parks, and he was mentioned numerous times in the Ken Burns' documentary National Parks: America's Best Idea.   I'm thankful for people who saved these natural treasures for future generations, like our family, so we could enjoy them.

The way to Muir Woods was on a very steep and windy road.   Luckily we got there early because parking is limited.  We let the boys stamp their passports, and then we took off on a short hike.  As we were walking we saw others pointing and looking at the creek.  About 20 yards from us, there was a little deer eating along the creek.  Everyone was quiet so we didn't disturb the baby deer, and I got the special moment on video.     

Like I've said over and over, the photos don't come close to capturing the natural beauty.

Look closely and you can see the deer. 

One of my favorite photos.  

It's one example of how the boys look so small compared to the giant trees.

Happy place

This was taken of a little slug at our hotel before we went to Muir Woods.  

I just wanted to include that we saw Turbo!