Muir Woods and Stinson Beach

On the first full day we were there, Erin's sister and brother-in-law picked us up at our hostel and brought us to  Muir Woods, a Redwood forest discovered by John Muir in 1908.  

"Muir Woods has a rich and varied history, from its use by the Coast Miwok people, to its early days of tourism and the Mount Tamalpais Mill Valley Scenic Railway, to an era of conservation, to modern preservation. In each era, the forest has been affected by the actions of humans, for better or for worse."

 Amazing and majestic are words that can not even come close to describing how cool this place is.  The freshness of the air and the awe that surrounds you can not really be described.

It was my HAPPY PLACE!

  We hiked around for about 2 hours I guess. It was phenomenal!

(Look at the Tracker Jacker hive!) wink wink...

   

We estimate it would take about 12-15 Erins to circle the entire tree!

After the woods, we went to Stinson beach, which is approximately 3.5 miles of beach that you can only get to by taking Hwy 1, the curvy-twisty road (we will discuss more in future posts). I am fascinated by Pacific coast beaches and one thing that is very high on my bucket-list (that has yet to happen) is to camp and have a bon-fire on a Pacific coast beach.

 Unfortunately, bon-fires are NOT permitted on the beach at Stinson Beach, so I guess I will have to keep working on that plan.

 

The beach was cold and windy and wonderful!

We stayed for a while and had a great meal at a little beach-side restaurant. The first time I had fish tacos... they were really good. I still don't think Taco-Bell should be trying to sell them, but right next to the Pacific Ocean, the concept seemed right.

Overall, not a bad way to spend our first full day in San Francisco!