M.E. and I returned to Philly in early July. M.E. had to be in Saginaw for business for the first two weeks. The second two weeks we took some time out to visit the girls. We spent a week with Margot in the San Francisco area and a week with Meredith in Jackson, WY.

We had not seen the girls since January of this year. It was great to see and spend time with each of the them. In SF we decided not to stay in the city but explore some of the sites both north and south of the bay area. And for M.E. and I it was our first time ever to visit Jackson during the summer time. We had skied there many times but never took the opportunity to see the area when there was no snow on the ground.

The next few post we be on the places we visited.

Muir Woods

M.E. and I arrived in SF late Saturday afternoon and drove about an hour north of the airport to the edge of Muir Woods National Park. Margot was off camping for the weekend so we had a day and a half to go on several walks in the park and explore the area before returning to SF to pick her up.

After talking with the folks at the inn and looking at several links on Muir Woods we decided not to go directly into the center of the park on Sunday. Muir Woods is less than a hour car/bus ride from SF. It is one of those places when visiting SF that is so nearby and so very famous many people go on a half day trip to visit the park. To “check it” off the list. We read that on weekends in the summer if you do not arrive before 9 in the morning you will be met with full parking lots and buses full of folks crowding into the park.

We decided to go on a half day walk in the outer part of the park. Muir Woods National Park in spectacular!!! This area are newer growth redwood tree forests. Wonderful to walk in, thick forests, tall trees, very little under growth and a soft bed of needles to walk on. In the late afternoon after our walk we went for a drive to visit Stinson Beach and Muir Beach and stop at the Pelican Inn, a British pub in Muir Beach for dinner.  What we found was that EVERYONE was out on this beautiful Sunday day taking advantage of the sunny and warm weather. We found the famous California traffic jams you often hear about. There was miles of car traffic on the coastal roads all around the area.

On Monday morning we arrived early to the entrance of Muir Woods National Park to get one of the last parking spaces in the second parking lot. The parks has built a very people friendly boardwalk on the valley floor where you can go on a nice walk and see some of the giant redwoods.  Below are some of the pictures from our walk and the beaches we visited.

What I realized is that when I am back in the US for weeks at a time my focus changes from writing weekly post to, visiting with family, maintaining the yard and grounds around our home and most recently painting some of the rooms in our house. While in Saudi I have very few distractions (translated, plenty of time on my hands) and can easily write a weekly post. I do apologize for missing several weeks of posts.

view of the town of Stinson beach

zoom in of beach, the water was cold, but on this warm day many went for a swim

pelicans flying along the coast

Muir Beach

Muir beach, homes perched in the background

a path in the park, this is the newer growth

fantastic lighting on this sunny day

tree trunks all around

M.E. enjoying the walk

picture perfect views around each turn of the trail

tree hollowed out by a fire

wild lilies

boardwalk in main section of park

this is in the older growth section

looking up

beautiful redwood trees

view from restaurant at the inn, “OK no more pictures BOB”