To the Lighthouse and beyond

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On Thursday we drove towards Point Reyes National Seashore. The roads provided adventurous rides and they included some of the tightest hairpin turns through spectacular countryside. We passed through the town of Inverness home to artists and artisans on our way. As we entered the National Seashore we passed by historic cattle ranches dating from 1859 and views of a vast countryside looking out over the ocean.We saw many low-flying hawks riding the thermals as well as deer grazing on local ground cover. We headed back to our place for the night in Petaluma - the charming Metro Hotel a shabby chic study in all things French. Petaluma is full of delightful gingerbread Victorian houses and warehouse buildings that are seeing new life as bars and restaurants. On Friday we headed down US1 toward SanFrancisco and across the fabled Golden Gate Bridge.

Our destination was Muir Woods National Monument a site of protected giant redwoods. After another adventurous ride through challenging twists and turns we reached the site and hiked a little through the giant redwood forests. Redwoods are considered the tallest trees in the world some reaching over 252 feet and up. Some of the trees we saw were over 500 years old up to 1000 years old. We continued down the coast to Monterey and the next leg of our journey.

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