Muir Woods National Monument, California

Less than 15 miles from San Francisco is the beautiful Muir Woods National Monument. Walking among giant coast redwoods, you get a taste of what it must be like to be an ant crawling among humans.

We’ve found the best time to go is when the park first opens on Monday mornings. The cool, reverent silence you’ll experience at that hour – punctuated by the occasional song of resident birds — surrounds you with a sense of the forest waking up around you.

You can either do the simple loops along the main path, suitable for even handicapped enthusiasts, or you can take one of the more challenging trails up the hillsides to enjoy spectacular views of the valley below and even a glimpse of the ocean.

The average age of the Muir Woods redwoods is 600-800 years; the oldest is 1,200 years old. When you touch the base of one of these giants, you can’t help but think about the history that has transpired since it was just a sapling.