7/9 - Mill Valley, CA
At Muir Woods, I was surprised to hear three familiar names from my office back home. In my office, I have portraits hanging to inspire me: Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt, Sequoyah, and Descartes. Three of the four made an appearance on my trip to Muir Woods.
First, the bus driver joked about the fog on the way to the park with a quote from Mark Twain, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." At the park, I learned that Theodore Roosevelt made the woods a national park. Last, we saw that the great trees' scientific name was sequoia sempervirens, after Sequoyah. I looked, but couldn't find any evidence of Descartes.
It may have been a bad idea to visit some of the most beautiful places in America before going overseas. What woods can possibly be more majestic than Muir Woods? I'm reminded of another Mark Twain quote from The Innocents Abroad, when Mark Twain saw Lake Como in Italy: "It certainly is clearer than a great many lakes, but how dull its waters are compared with the wonderful transparence of Lake Tahoe!" I'm afraid I could be an American snob abroad.
Pictured: Walking through Muir Woods
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