On the last day before my brother's family had to take off for Albania, we decided to take the kids to the Muir Woods up in Marin County and enjoy the trails of the amazing red woods. We weren't disappointed. The weather was warm and the natural beauty that surrounded us was striking. When we visit this particular park, we usually take the shorter trail, the one that is rather flat and whose wide boardwalks are paved and aided often by rails. It takes you to the most well-known groves of red woods. However, my older kids wanted to take the long and steep trail that took us through the forest and all the way up and down its course. We all had a humbling experience trailing through the thousand year old trees. The older kids didn't stop for rest ever, but Charlton and I, and Marcel and Aubrie took it easy. I'm happy to say that although we had to walk slow and often find fun spots to rest, Charlton walked all of the almost 4 steep miles by himself. We had a good time climbing, looking for various kinds of ferns and mushrooms, listening to the birds and trying to find bats flying around. The hike down was a bit harder for Charlton, who started complaining about his shoes hurting his toes, which was true enough since he didn't have tennis shoes on but boots. Nevertheless, we all made it, and when we got to the paved boardwalks, even Charlton was getting to enjoy this enchanted forest.
Here are some of the resting spots that Charlton and Marcel found for themselves:
The kids had so much fun being together in the nature and enjoying the magical red wood forest. They collected all sorts of leaves, rocks and above all unforgettable memories with their cousins. My favorite part of the hike was when we got to the top and could see all of the forest we had hiked, as well as the luscious rolling hills of Marin County that expanded all the way to the horizon where the sea and the sky made love to each other. Just breathtaking!
“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”-John Muir-
This was a great way to conclude our time together. Both my brother and sister-in-law are avid campers and love the outdoors. This was their favorite part of their whole Christmas vacation. We made a lot of plans for when we would see each other again. I hope some of those ideas come to fruition.
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