Christmas Day at Muir Woods

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We spent our Christmas Day out near Muir Woods this year.

We caught a perfect day at the Golden Gate photo spot on the way to the Woods, yet didn't seem to capture any good photos with us and the bridge in it. Still, had a great time chasing Mara around.


At Muir Woods, we realized others had had the same idea, so parking was impossible. Greg had to bite the bullet and drop us off. Luckily we got on the main path right on time for their guided tour.
We learned five life stories from the Redwoods:
- Support your Community: redwoods "hold hands" with their neighbors through their flat root system
- Stand Tall: tallest living organism.
- Surround Yourself with Family: when stressed, trees spawn clones of themselves; after the mother tree dies out a "family circle" remains in its place.
- Live in a Cool Place: redwoods are very choosy on where to grow: wind, fire, weather, temperatures, humidity, all have to be juuuust right.
- Have Thick Skin: the bark of these trees is pretty much resistant to everything, including fire.

On our way out, we took a trail back to the car (parking was hectic!). That walk back was actually more memorable than Muir Woods itself: the adrenaline rush of trying to get to the car in time before night settles, while carrying both kids and a stroller, on a path that seemed mostly used by deer, horses and mountain lions. It was more than picturesque, with gorgeous sights of rounded hills, high grasses, tons of fruit-depleted raspberry bushes all around and trees with curly branches thickly covered in moss and lichen.
We crossed streams of water, waded in mud, balanced on ridges with a teeter-tottering stroller with a little Mara inside.

Gaius loved the hike. Here he is expressing his personal opinion in a close-up shot:


We found the car early enough to watch the sunset on the ocean at Muir Beach.

 Mara "cooked" a lot of sand, Gaius practiced his pre-crawl stances and strongly considered putting sand in his mouth. Well, more than "considered", really - spoiler alert!


"Should I try it? Should I not?"

Here's how Gaius was preparing to crawl.
It takes a lot of prepping, and three weeks later he is still working on mastering crawling. Although he has figured out moving backwards quite well.





They say there are no two sunsets alike. Here's the one from Xmas day 2015 at Muir Beach.

How to shake sand out of your hands:

And... well... unicorns.


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