Muir Woods

Muir Woods is just north of San Francisco in Marin County. It's an awesome place; you feel like you are in another land with the thick greenery, towering redwoods and cool streams. We spent a morning there, hiking 2 hours on the ocean view trails (a misnomer; there are no longer ocean views from the trail), as well as walking the various paths on the forest floor. The sheer size and height of the redwoods are amazing; I wish I had the right camera lenses (and skills) to capture the beauty and scale properly.

We had lunch inside Muir Woods at the Muir Woods Trading Company Cafe. I had the famous Marin Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup, made famous by the "Hidden Treasures" episode of Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate with Tyler Florence and his adorable son. Unfortunately both the grilled cheese and tomato soup were disappointing, particularly for $14. They were both too rich and a little bland without enough acid or flavor to keep it interesting. I like my tomato soup a little more tangy and the grilled cheese could have used a more flavorful cheeses; they used very rich cheeses like Cowgirl Creamery's triple cream Mount Tam, which I love, but I would have preferred something with more zing. The bread was good though, hearty with lots of nuts and grain.