The roads we took to reach the forest were steep and winding, and I felt myself hand over my life to Ben as I looked out the bus's windows and down, down, down the side of the canyon-like valleys that plunged beside the roads we were swerving upwards on. Though young and chatty, he very thankfully seemed to be a competent and experienced driver under these conditions. Although we joked that we'd traveled on more precarious roads during winters when we'd lived in Switzerland when I was a child, I'm not sure that my Mom realized that I was, nevertheless, holding my breath every now and again as we approached yet another curve in the road, fog rolling in through the valleys around us . . . perhaps she's laughing as she reads this, wondering if I knew that she was doing the same thing!
Muir Woods National Monument is an old-growth coastal redwood forest. We arrived shortly before 9:00 a.m., thereby bypassing both the usual $10 per person entry fee and the crowds which were arriving when we were leaving the Woods later in the morning. As we entered the primeval forest, I felt as though I'd passed through a curtain of serenity; suddenly the world had become hushed and we proceeded with an air of reverence for the ancient trees towering around us.
John Muir was, according to Wikipedia, "a naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States." He was also the "founder of the Sierra Club, a prominent American conservation organization." The following words, written by Muir himself, resounded with us as we stood in the Woods named in his honour:
"In every walk with nature,
one receives far more
than one seeks."
~John Muir
As we left the forest and reboarded the bus set to take us on to Sonoma, I found myself wishing that I had days to explore the beauty and peace of Muir Woods. But moving on to wine country was an amazing prospect, and so Muir Woods has been placed on the list of places I'd love to revisit one day in the future :)
And Sonoma certainly did not disappoint! "Sonoma is the southwestern county and largest producer of California's wine country region, which also includes Napa, Mendocino, and Lake counties." (Wikepedia) While in the region, we would be visiting three wineries and enjoying lunch. Our first stop was at the Mayo winery, where we received an indepth tour of the wine-making process, and participated in a wine tasting. Prior to this visit I'd experienced similar tours and tastings in Niagara region, fortunate as we are to have some fabulous wineries in Southern Ontario.
We were more than ready for lunch after this tasting - my stomach definitely needed something to absorb the wine I'd just consumed! How fortunate we were to dine at a window seat in the Plaza Bistro overlooking Sonoma Square! Our lunch courses were paired with wine, and we were grateful that Ben was our DD, that's for sure!
Two more wineries were on our agenda, Madonna and Cline. Cline was the final and largest winery we visited, and I passed on the tasting there in favour of exploring the lovely grounds and making friends of the animal variety. Boasting a pond filled with carp, beautiful gardens, and donkeys - I don't know why donkeys, but I liked them! - wandering the paths around this winery was a relaxing way to end this part of the day.
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| The carp at 'Cline' come up to say hello to me. |
The drive back to San Francisco was, without doubt, louder and more laughter-filled than our morning trip had been. Folks were definitely more gregarious after having stopped at three wineries in the afternoon! A final stop along the Marin County side of the Golden Gate Bridge in the late afternoon elicited some beautiful scenes as the sky changed colour before our eyes.
Still quite full from our lunch when we got back to our hotel, Mom and I decided to do dessert for dinner - one of those perks of being an adult with no children around to be a good role model for! We made our way to the Cheesecake Factory located on the top floor of the Macy's building at Union Square where we were able to sit outside on the eighth floor balcony patio overlooking the Square while we ate our cake: original cheesecake for Mom and carrot cake for me. Mmmmm!
While we ate, we kept our eyes open for the super moon - a full moon with the closest approach that the moon makes to the Earth - that was supposed to be visible in the night sky on this evening. Being surrounded by tall buildings made it difficult, but finally when we reached ground level again, we were treated to a view of the super moon over Union Square. Although our photos couldn't capture it in any satisfactory way, my heart sang knowing that my loves back home were looking up at the same moon :)
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| Union Square as seen from the rooftop patio of the Cheesecake Factory on the 8th floor of the Macy's Department Store building. |
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| Super moon over Union Square. |
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| That's silly us reflected in the window of our hotel room, looking up at the super moon hanging over Union Square in San Francisco. |
Please stay tuned for more about our trip to San Francisco as Day Six's adventures are chronicled soon.
My wonders: Have you ever been to Muir Woods or to another coastal redwood forest? How did the space make you feel? And have you ever been to a winery and/or experienced a wine tasting? If so, where did you do so, and please share some of the details of your experience. Finally, were you able to view the most recent super moon on Nov. 14, 2016, and if so, where were you when you saw it?
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