August 3, 2008: Legion of Honor, Sausalito, Muir Woods

We started the day with a quick stop at the Legion of Honor - a fine art museum with a confusing name. Fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls were on display, thanks to a loan from the Israeli Antiquities division. That was very cool - the amount of scholarship involved in piecing together and interpreting the tiny remnants was impressive.

Most of the regular collection was donated by wealthy local patrons, so things were a bit uneven, but they had an excellent Rodin sculpture hall. Also, because of a partner relationship with the de Young, there were more Chihuly pieces. This is definitely Chihuly city.

Apparently Sunday brunch at the Cliff House is a San Francisco tradition, so that followed our museum visit. The restaurant is in the Presidio district, overlooking the Pacific. It's also the site of the old Sutro baths, used by the upper classes in the late 1800's as a weekend escape. There are lots of historical prints on display of the original bath-house structure and you can tour the ruins. Excellent food, btw :)

We then got in the newly acquired rental car and crossed the Golden Gate. By the time we reached Sausalito, the fog had lifted and the sun was shining. Sausalito features some of the most expensive real estate in the Bay Area and the place was packed with tourists. We didn't hang around very long - our goal was to do some hiking in Muir Woods before nightfall. Muir Woods is a national park just off Highway 1, north of San Francisco. It's famous for its California Redwoods and was dedicated by FDR as a national monument.

We got there late in the day, which actually worked to our advantage - most of the tourists were just leaving and that made wandering along the trails much easier. I've never seen redwoods before, and they really are impressive. I was fascinated by the "cathedral" section of the park. This is natural feature where a very old tree had been destroyed by lightning some time in the past, but the tree's root system survived to sprout new shoots. A ring of new trees forms around the burned-out trunk of the "parent" tree, creating a circular cathedral-like space. Really magnificent.