• Giant Redwoods

    2月19日, アメリカ ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Today was a special day. It was the first of a number of planned and pre-paid events that we had organised. Today's was a bus trip to the Muir Woods National Monument followed by a drop off in Suasalito, lunch and a ferry back to SF.

    Our bus driver and tour operator, George, was a big man. He looked and sounded like Topol of Fiddler on the Roof fame. I thought at one point George was going to bust out 'Tradition' over the bus PA.

    He had a deep resonant warm voice and was as we describe people like this, a character. He had a lovely sense of humour which he used liberally in his commentary, he loved the performance of the whole thing (plenty of rhetorical questions which he would then answer and repetitons of words already spoken), and was genuinely extremely well-informed of the city, the journey throughout and the woods. George made me laugh and was absolutely worth the tip we gave him at the end.

    Muir Woods is the home of the giant redwoods. There is a beautifully laid out looped path that you can take either side of a running stream that has four distanced bridges across it. You can terminate your trip and turn around and return at any of the bridges, this giving ease of the experience to seasoned and not so seasoned walkers.

    It was raining today. We got a little wet on our way to the pick up point before George picked us up in SF. So, we bought identical umbrellas; yes, that's what she gave us, and once again Stu and Chris looked like the Bobsey twins. By the time we reached the forest, it was still raining lightly, not bucketing down, but lightly enough to get quite wet if you stayed out in it for five minutes. And we were going to be out in it for around an hour, so our matching umbrellas were a godsend.

    The water had soaked everything so there was a wet shiny look to the woods. The sequoias were astonishing. My camera was unable to fit an entire tree in without standing way back and the picture missing the grandeur. No matter, I snapped away at various vistas of these beautful giants, bottom halves, top halves, middle bits. They felt like gentle giants to me. There was a softness about them, but a strength nonetheless.

    So many views, so many pics, not enough space for it all here. But looking at something so old, centuries in fact, and so large, and so alive was cause for reflection. I suspect most thinking people on our tour experienced the same thing. Majesty without pomposity. Grandeur without narcissism. Maybe even something of the numenous.

    Chris and I have never seen a gift shop on a tour that we didn't love, so in we went and bought a few little odds and ends.

    George took us back to Sausolito where we dined in a restuarant called The Trident built out over the water, taking a panoramic view of SF city and drinking Mexican beer. And even a lovely sea lion swimming up close to our window for us to say hello. A relaxing trip back over the Bay in the ferry on the top deck saw us weary and ready to get an Uber to the grocery store near our digs and then home to relax.

    Another lovely day, I think the best so far. I will never forget seeing those redwoods.
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