Muir Woods

This Sunday, Joe, Christy and I hopped in Christy's car and took a trip over to Muir Woods, a mere 20 minutes away. It's really amazing the things you find just outside the city. Another 30 minutes north of that is Napa Valley.
On the way, we stopped in Sausalito for brunch, which is just on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was the most gorgeous day out. We had decent food and even got to eat outside. Sausalito's main street leads right into the water facing San Francisco. It's a cute town full of coffeeshops and art stores that I'd love to spend more time in. We found out that there's actually a ferry from SF to there, so we might try to do that one day.
Then off down a winding, twisting, vomit-inducing road to the woods. We didn't have a whole lot of time before the park closed (Christy, you putterer you!) so we just did the easy main trail at Muir woods, but it was worth it. Redwoods are breathtaking, even the ones that are only medium-sized. They're just so old! The woods really do look as misty and majestic as photographs make them out to be. The eco-system is delicate though. We saw the remains of what used to be that really famous walk-through tree that everyone took their picture in front of. It collapsed and died in 1971 from too many people walking over the roots. Now they're really hard-core about conservation.
It's a very soul-refreshing kind of place. I hope Christy keeps wanting to go on these outings. Having a car in SF is definitely a plus. I didn't miss it a bit in NYC, but here it would be nice. Joe and I want to sign up for zipcar soon, though. People have shown that even if you rented a car every single weekend, it would still be cheaper than actually owning a car in the city.
I'm all excited about going camping now. Once it warms up, we want to go up to Point Reyes just like Luke and Aliza did.
I'll try to get Joe to upload some of the digital pics from Muir Woods for y'all to ooh and aah over.
On our way home, we saw a small sign for Muir Beach, which is where the stream that runs through Muir Woods empties into the ocean. After driving down a cruddy little road and climbing over sand dunes and a smelly board walk, you come upon a beach, hidden in a bay among craggy cliffs. To the west was the sunset, and to the east, the foggy lights of San Francisco. Familys were packing up picnics and dogs ran around in the waves. A lovely end to a lovely day.