It was a month ago, to the day, that Lea and I had unexpectedly arrived in Sonoma for our weekend getaway to Big Sur.  After a day of rekindling our love affair with Northern California among the vines in wine country, there were only two more things we had to do since we had come this far.  The first – go for a walk in the woods.  Or, more specifically…the redwoods.

In our three years in the Bay Area and seemingly thousands of miles through Northern CA’s coastal redwoods, we had some how managed to never step foot inside Muir Woods National Park (possibly the most well-known and accessible redwood forest in the Bay Area).  This park had also made our California bucket list; which means that we would get to cross our second item off the list in one weekend!

The entrance of the park is pretty breathtaking, but also a little crowded.  Down along the creek bed is a boardwalk perfectly suited for strollers, walkers and even high heels.  Again, it’s gorgeous, but we just weren’t getting that “back to nature” vibe we were looking for.  So we took our escape up the first side trail that we could find.  These trails were muddy and steep, so we weren’t surprised when the crowd thinned out real quick.

Ahhhhhhh…ferns!  I absolutely love it here.  This is one of those posts when I’m just gonna shut up and let the pictures do the talking.

 

You know you’ve been in California too long when you start taking tree hugging to the next level. J/K!  I think it’s sweet.  My, how far we’ve come since Nueva York…  🙂

 

 

As we crested the ridge line and passed over to the western side of the mountain, the trees thinned and we were met with beautiful, clear views of the ocean.  That’s when it really hit us and felt like Northern CA kids again!

 

The trails on this side were soppin’ wet.

 

 

 

After our walk, we went on to the second thing we had to do since we were back in S.F.  Tony’s Pizza Napoletana.

 

 

 

And this time we got to sit in the main dining room!  Of all the times we’ve been here, we’ve never been sat in the other room and have always been curious.  Nay, suspicious.  It has a good view of the pizza oven, but I think I actually prefer the room with the view of the bar.

 

 

 

By 4pm, we were on the road again.  6.5 hours of this view.  Not bad, California. 🙂