From Muir Woods to Stinson Beach

Hi everyone! I know that I have not been great about updating my blog in the past week or so, and I promise to get better!

Everything is moving along quite nicely out here in California. (I wonder if I will always use "out here" as a way of describing where I live).

Last weekend, Kent and I decided to organize a big hike. Jud and Ali drove down together from Palo Alto area early on Sunday morning to meet us in the city to begin our big adventure. We also had a surprise guest- Masha- a friend of Albert's that wanted to take the opportunity to get out of the city. Albert wasn't able to join, but he sent Masha in his place. She was wonderful to hike with, and I hope she can go on many more with us. I love being able to meet new and interesting people in a variety of different ways.

Kent and I went to Safeway early Sunday morning to prepare for a picnic at Stinson Beach... our named place of destination. On a sidenote, I love the Safeway grocery store. I truly enjoy shopping there. I do miss Publix from time to time, "where shopping is a pleasure," but Safeway gives you the "ingredients for life." We do have a variety of people that "hang out" in the store and roam the isles just staring at things. You can tell that they need help and that they probobly don't even know where they are. The homeless situation in San Francisco is really terrible, and I am continually amazed at how many there are in this city. I just wonder what is being done at a local level to help? Maybe this is something that I should get involved in. I guess that is a blog for another time.

Back to hiking... We departed with backpacks filled with food, water, blankets, etc. We started off at Muir Woods National Monument and hiked through the Mount Tamalpais State Park.

Our goal was to reach Stinson Beach (about 6miles one way), picnic there, and then head back. We met our goal, and we had a great time. Alot of the hike was uphill. On the way back from Stinson after eating a good solid lunch, the hills were harder. In order to help us lose focus on our pain, we played a word game called Contact. We had played once before in Tahoe over spring break, and we found out that Masha, our new friend, had brought the game to the US after leaving Russia.

The scenery was beautiful, and the company was great. More pics to come!