Muir Woods and An Unexpected Treat

I recently visited my parents for my mom's birthday. We had originally planned to go camping in the RV, but dad's work was keeping him stuck in town. So, we figured we'd stay local, which was fine with me. I was just happy to be in the Bay Area. Like I said in a previous blog, my trip up was a surprise.

We decided to go to Muir Woods which is just north of San Francisco. Dan and I had gone hiking there before we moved to Los Angeles, but I hadn't been since and a trip to the redwoods was just what I needed. We drove through San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge, it was a lovely day and only foggy when we crossed part of the bridge, a little bit of everything. :]

The draw of Muir Woods is the beautiful preserved redwood trees that tower over you like red pillars reaching to the sky. The ground is covered in sorrel clover and a peaceful creek runs through the trees. It is an amazing place, filled with nature. It is also filled with tourists, which for me is generally a negative thing, but on this occasion we experienced an unexpected treat when someone spotted an owl.

There was quite a group watching him and he eventually flew to another tree that was accessible, but off the main path. Eventually the crowd died down, until it was pretty much just my parents and me. We followed him for at least a half hour watching him go from perch to perch, about four times before we lost him.

At the time we thought he was a Spotted Owl, which has been seen there on occasion, but when we got my photos home and compared to my mom's bird book, we discovered it was a Barred Owl, which apparently is very rare to see up here. After our adventure with the owl, we decided to head back toward home. We didn't think anything could top that sighting and decided to turn back, we were getting to the end anyway and were also getting hungry.

We stopped at the Pelican Inn for a pint and shared a small plate of crackers and chutney, I passed on the cheese of course. I'm sad that Dan and I didn't know it existed when we lived in the Bay Area, because we would have gone up there all the time. It even had a sign on the front door that asked for you to take off any shoes that might damage the hundred year floor. My kind of place. 

After our pint, we made our way down to Muir beach to enjoy the view and let some of the rush hour traffic die down. Once again, I was surprised we had never made our way down to this beach. It was amazing! people were drinking beer and wine, dogs running around without being tethered to their human companions, and a great ocean view with hills surrounding. Did I mention you could have fires on the beach? Right, amazing.

Once we decided to head home we went over the Benicia bridge and through my old stomping grounds. It was a strange, and very sad, feeling to pass my old neighborhood that we loved so much. Good memories. I wanted to go to Beer Revolution in Oakland, it seems to be becoming a tradition, and we ended up next door instead. A new spot opened up that is partially owned by the Beer Rev owners that was serving all vegan food. Sweet, but it was all pub style food so I opted out and we went to Souley Vegan instead, one of the best vegan restaurants on the planet.