To the woods

We took a little trip north to Muir Woods on President's Day, a place we haven't visited in a lot of years. In fact, the last time we went little Benito was so small he was in a pack on Stephen's back. How could I forget how breathtaking that place is? 

It's a good thing we weren't deterred by the five million other great minds who thought a sunny Monday off in February would be the perfect day for a hike. For being a national park, that place does not seem equipped to handle a crowd. Either that or everybody values the beauty and serenity of Muir Woods enough to hoof it two miles from a parking spot to the park entrance.  Anyway, we hiked it. We loved it.  We shushed and hollered at our kids way too much, however, as we realized they have absolutely no respect for trail rules and quiet signs. Sigh... Someday I will have the Zen experience I long for at Muir Woods. Maybe.

Pre-hike bathroom stop, I mean bear ride

Foreshadowing of what's to come on the trail

Poor wooden bear having his nose picked by Eli

We saw some HUGE salmon in the stream



Benito striking a lovely pose
(Alisa, do you recognize this sweatshirt?)

And we're off

We let the kids take over the camera and look for wildflowers

They did a pretty good job, eh?

Moss popped up on here too

And ferns

And bridges

And Eli?  So much for wildflowers...

The yahoos, all of them :)