Muir Woods and Mt. Tam

My uncle's favorite place is Muir Woods. Redwood trees are truly giant, sacred beings - silent, but listening, patient, ancient. As a friend said to me, "These will be in heaven. Just so you know."

See the tiny people at the foot of the trees, there?
Yeah, people were about as quiet as they are at the mall. As in, not as all.
Ranger Talk.
Giant clover!
Majesty.

Then we drove / climbed up Mt. Tamalpais (TA-mal-PI-us) or Mt. Tam. Usually there's a wonderful view of the ocean and the city but that day, we got a more authentic Bay Area view:

That's the Pacific ocean. Here's San Francisco:
It was still beautiful, we thought! We ate our sandwiches on a rocky bench built in 1927 for a man who had loved that spot.

We got a glimpse of the city and water after a while!
Then came down from the hills where we could see the ocean clearly, and drove home to Oakland along Route 1. Makes you a little queasy to curve around so many corners, but it's nice to see the ocean stretching out toward the horizon, also so giant, ancient, and sacred.