Monday, August 28, 2017

Muir Woods Adventure

I’m sharing #MiOWhatsNext in my life as part of a sponsored series for Socialstars™.

Remember how I shared a couple weeks back about how MiO is helping me to tackle some of my upcoming goals (you know, seeing as the water enhancer is aiding me in my hydration game during these summer months which is of the utmost importance while training for a fall marathon)? Well, if you don't, you can check out that post HERE.


Anyway, just because I've got big aspirations that I'm putting a lot of time and effort into chasing down doesn't mean my life has to be running non-stop, 24-7 (even if that's how my social media can sometimes make it seem).

Source

As many of you know, the hubby and I love to adventure. Shoot, we even recently bought a new #AdventureMobile and customized it a bit to make it more "us" so we can go on more camping trips and exertions.


Our latest adventure was to San Francisco. Okay, okay, some of you are going to call me out on this and say "But Carlee, I thought you went to San Francisco for a race, doesn't that mean your life is in fact running all-day, err-day?!"

Okay, so you're right... BUT just because the main reason for our trip was the San Francisco Marathon (I ran the full and the hubby ran the half), doesn't mean we didn't make sure to take time for our fair share of exploring.

Finisher picture - Aren't we the cutest?! 

We left BEFORE the butt-crack of dawn Friday morning so we'd have the majority of the day to wander through the Muir Woods National Monument (we live about 500 miles south so needed to leave early or risk losing a full day to travel).

Yep, I was up before 3am to start the day... OUCH!

The hubby had never been to the Muir Woods before, so although we didn't want to thrash our legs (remember, we each still had a race two days later) we wanted to see as much of the area as possible.

The entrance to the park 


Prior to our trip, we did some research and found that the Panoramic Loop and the Hillside Loop trails would probably be our best bet. Not only were they off the main drag, but the views were supposedly amazing and they weren't overly strenuous. (Oh yeah, the hubby completed the Adventure 16 3-Peak Challenge a few days before {climbing the three tallest mountains in Southern California within 24 hours} so we let his body dictate what we planned to accomplish.)


We ended up with 9.5 miles of hiking (definitely not the way to "save our legs" but the trails we found online were a bit misleading and it took us a while to get to them) and really got to take in the sights and sounds of the Redwood Forest.



Moss growing on the fences along some of the paths

The redwoods are soooooooo tall (and old)

You can see the ocean in the distance on a clear day

Look up, WAY UP, and I'll call Rusty... (Can anyone {other than my mom} name that line?!)

Now, not only were we adventuring, but we also had to be smart about hydrating for the races we had coming up 36 hours later. Thanks so MiO we were able to live more, do more, be more and play more. We brought the Original Lemonade MiO with us and it was a great break from the plain water we had been drinking on the drive up. [PS Can I just say how difficult it is to hydrate on a road trip?! Talk about constant bathroom stops!] The small bottle is not only convenient (we threw it in our hiking bag without fear of leaking or spilling), but it packs a big punch.



We always try to squeeze in as much as possible on our trips, and I'd say we definitely did that in San Francisco!

PS If you're interested in some of the other adventures from our trip and missed the posts the first time around, head over now to give them a read. The San Francisco Marathon Race Recap // The Walt Disney Family Museum

When you travel, do you like to see the sights and sounds or do more relaxing?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

We really want to take the boys on hikes. Just not sure how stroller friendly itnis for Asher. We tried the hiking backpacks and it just won't work for us. Love reading about your trips with the #adventuremobile