From Pandora to Paradise

When you see it...

We woke up at about 7 this morning and left for Muir Woods at around 8am.  Tom drove us across the Golden Gate Bridge and through the winding mountains around Sausalito until we got to the ancient looking Muir Woods.

Realllly big trees.

The 150-200ft tall Redwoods seemed to soar endlessly into the sky with trunks being 10ft+ in diameter.  It felt exactly like pandora, and Tom and Regina were waiting for a brontosaurus to come give us a ride around while I waited patiently for Jake Sully to come save us! We hiked up and down the side of a mountain in the redwood forest for almost 2 hours and were pretty tired when we got back to the car.

Waiting for our Brontosaurus.

I (Eric) drove back down through the mountains in 75 degree clear weather until we got to gorgeous Sausalito! It was a beautiful and extremely wealthy town on the edge of the bay. There were so many cyclists riding around who didn't care for cars one bit, so it was tough weaving around them! We got some tasty sandwiches for lunch, walked around a bit, and then got back in the car to head towards the Marin Headlands. 

The drive up the mountain to get to the lookout points was fantastic.  We stopped along the way at each lookout point and took some incredible photos.  Everyone says I must have driven off the road and killed us back in Salt Lake City because we were in heaven! It was very interesting being at the each lookout point too because old World War II fortifications still existed from when the US thought the Japanese might attack the San Francisco port.  We spent about 2 hours going to each lookout point until the sun started setting.

View from Baker Beach

We had to keep chasing the sun!

We ran back to the car and headed back across the Golden Gate bridge on our way to Baker Beach to catch the sunset and dip our feet in the Pacific Ocean! We made it successfully and had a great (but VERY cold) time dipping our feet in, but the couldn't see the sun set exactly because part of the land still covered its decent.  At that point, we decided to make a mad dash over the mountain still covering the sunset and made it the cliffhouse JUST in time to watch the sunset.  It was like something out of a movie.  Regina, Tom, and I scurried onto the beach again and ran around in the Titanic-cold water before calling it a night.

Cliff House

Finally caught the Pacific sunset.

We got back to Dorothy's, went out to her favorite Chinese food place in town, got some frozen yogurt and ice cream after, and headed back to call it a night.  Tomorrow we're headed to Berkeley to check out the campus and then on to McCovey's to meet up with my family to watch the Jets destroy the Steelers!!!