Muir Woods & Sausalito

We hadn't decided what to do with the Utah gals on their last day here (Friday). We've been wanting to visit Muir Woods since moving here, but wondered if it was all that great. I googled "Is Muir Woods worth visiting?" and was met with a resounding "YES!" online. So...we ventured out to explore this new (to us) place!

Muir Woods

I seriously started laughing at myself when we got to Muir Woods. Was it worth a visit? Umm....yeah! 

It was AMAZING! The beauty around us was surreal and the colors were the brightest green I've ever seen. It's incredible to me that something like this can be just 15 minutes from a bustling, overcrowded city. In conclusion, if you are visiting this area and wondering if Muir Woods is worth your time, I hope I've made it clear that it most definitely is! I'll be back again and again to see this scenery.

From Wikipedia:

"Muir Woods National Monument is a unit of the National Park Service...12 miles north of San Francisco and part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It protects 554 acres of which 240 acres are old growth Coast Redwood forests, one of a few such stands remaining in the San Francisco Bay Area."

We'd never seen redwood trees before so we were in complete awe at their size. You truly could not see the top of them.

 Showing that some of the trees date back to 900 A.D.

 

We followed a path which took us on a 1 mile walk through the Redwoods. There are lots of connecting trails you can take for a longer hike if desired.

Scene driving away from Muir Woods-

Sausalito

After Muir Woods, we took a short drive to Sausalito to spend the evening. 

Yet ANOTHER place we hadn't seen yet! 

(I can't thank these girls enough for giving us such a great excuse to finally do some exploring around where we live)

Sausalito is so beautiful. 

It's a ritzier area on the opposite side of San Francisco, connected by the Golden Gate Bridge. The downtown area has many darling shops to explore and you can spend the evening (or day) strolling down the street...it's just a short walk to see it all. We window-shopped at the pricey stores, but also found tons of shopping for us "commoners". :) Of the shops I've seen so far in San Francisco and elsewhere, these in Sausalito are actually my favorite for souvenir shopping- so many unique things, but super affordable. (I took my mom here one week later!)

I loved this night and loved having a "Girl's Night" shopping (Rob stayed with Drake in the car while he napped).

Oh, and did I mention the view...

To end these girls Spring Break trip, we had fresh seafood for dinner nearby! I don't like seafood, but from the "Mmmm's" and "Awwww's" I heard during dinner, I think everyone liked it. 

(Photo courtesy of Braquel)

Saturday morning we slept in, had a big breakfast, and relaxed from our super busy week before I took the girl's to the airport in the afternoon. 

We sure hope they had a fun time here with us! It was such a privilege to have them!

Hope you enjoyed seeing and reading about our week. :)