Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito, and Muir Woods

April 5^th, 2015 (Sunday):

Today Scott and I drove North over the Golden Gate bridge again where there is a vista point immediately off of 101 when you get over the bridge. It’s the “tourist spot” where you get that picture with the bridge in the background. It was very busy however we managed to find a spot and spend a few minutes checking out the views. Then we went into a town called Sausalito which is a quaint town with café’s, chocolate shops, and clothing stores. There is a yacht club marina there where you can walk down on the docks and look at the nice sail boats. There were several seals that poked their cute faces out at us and swam playfully in the ocean.

After spending two hours in Sausalito, we drove to Muir Woods. This area was packed with people, we had to park about 1 mile down the road from the entrance. We decided to hike a trail in the Mt. Tamalpais State Park first where there would be less people. Then we decided to drive closer to Muir Woods to see if we could find a spot to park which we did. I would highly recommend Muir Woods. The trees have an enchanting quality about them. They are so tall and magnificent. Truly a beautiful forest. We highly recommend going later in the afternoon when there are less people there. It’s such a beautiful place, it was nice to find some quiet to enjoy it later in the day.

There is a small café where you can buy local, organic foods and homemade beverages next to the gift shop. I was impressed with the gift shop because the products seemed to all be made in the United States of America if not made locally in California. And many of the products were made from the different types of trees such as Cherry, Coast Redwood, and Sequoias.

After leaving the park we left for Muir Beach which isn’t far from Muir Woods. It’s a beautiful beach and many people were trying to see the sun set. Racing against time Scott and I jogged towards the light on rocks across from where it was setting so we could see the grand finale. We caught a glimpse of the sun setting behind a large cliff. We enjoyed the view on a blanket sitting on a flat rock. We later found an outlet that read on a post “Muir Overlook” which would’ve been a much easier access point to view the sun set as it was much higher than our rock near the sandy beach. However we were content with what the sun gave us. It was the perfect ending to a great day. Thinking it couldn’t get any better, the universe had more surprises in store for us.

Driving along Route 1 (windy road along the Pacific Coast), in search for our parking spot for the night…we had a colorful sky in front of us, city lights behind and the ocean beside us. What more could you ask for? A proud owl greeted us along a turn in the road, standing perched on a fence. Soon after two deer caught my attention out of my peripheral vision. A baby deer and its’ mother walked slowly across the campervan; our headlights shining on them bright.

We are settled for the night along a marsh-like landscape along Route 1. It’s so much quieter than the rest stop we were at the other night. No doors slamming or traffic racing by on the highway. Here, the full moon and the wind put us to sleep.