Thank You, John Muir

Although both these pictures look like many of the pictures we've taken over the last several months in various locations, the awesome thing about this first shot of Amy and Paul and James in Muir Woods is that over the last mountain is a large body of water known as the Pacific Ocean. Admittedly, it's hard to distinguish the washed-out blue ocean from the washed-out white sky, but for us it seems a miraculous and surprising novelty to hike up a big mountain for scenic vistas of the ocean. Plus, we got to appreciate the preservation efforts of John Muir. (For all you coin collectors, he's the guy on the California quarter.) The second picture earns blog status merely for the fact that James honestly seems to be enjoying himself, rather than sleeping or looking surprised.