From Muir Woods to San Francisco Bay’s Edge

One of the reasons I wanted to go to the San Francisco area was to visit Muir Woods. Muir Woods is a US National Monument. I wrote about national monuments in a previous post. Muir Woods is one I had read about and wanted to explore. It took us about two hours to drive north from where Andrea lives to reach Muir Woods. The drive took us over the Golden Gate Bridge, and shortly after crossing we turned west. We…

More Than Just Redwood Trees

Redwood National and State Parks is more than just the redwood trees in its names. While the trees are often the star, the parks covers a lot of territory so a visit will allow you to see more than just trees. On our second day in the park we saw trees, but we saw more as well. During our first stop of the day, we saw no redwoods. We would take a fairly short hike around the Yurok Loop. The…

Unique Crescent City Forest and Beach Hikes

Redwood National Park is an interesting connection of both state and national parks. In fact the official name is Redwood National and State Parks. We traveled to the northern most section of the parks, Crescent City, and continued our exploration of the redwood area from there. After a hearty breakfast on Tuesday, we were ready to hit the forest. Our first park was Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. We were headed to a popular trail called the Boy Scout Trail.…

Discovering the Gardens of Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara sits along the California coast north of Los Angeles. Many people think of it as a posh beach town. However, its Mediterranean climate makes it a unique place to garden. While it is fairly warm year round, it is also somewhat dry. This makes it suitable for a wide variety of plants. There are three gardens that I have enjoyed while visiting Santa Barbara. The first is the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in the foothills above the Santa…