Super-fantastic Journeys

Muir Woods National Monument is located just 16 miles Northwest of Fishermans Warf in San Francisco. Muir Woods is a stand of Coastal Redwoods protected over the years and allows visitors to walk amongst these giants.  Many of the trees in the area are 500 - 800 years old, and the tallest tree at the monument stands 258 feet tall.  The trees create their own climate below the canopy allowing many different plants and animals to live here that would not do well in the arid climate otherwise.  The Coastal Redwoods grow in Northern California, primarily between San Francisco and Oregon.  They thrive here because of the fog.  The fog will condense on the needles in the trees, then drip down into the forest below.  This process is how these giant trees get enough water to sustain the forest that they create. Being so close to San Francisco Bay area Muir Woods is a popular destination and requires you to make a paid reservation just to get parkin.  We made our reservations months in advance

 Tuzigoot National Monument is a 53-acre site managed by the National Park Service near Clarksdale, Arizona.  The site became protected as a national monument in 1939 and is an example of the culture and housing of the protects and honors the ruins of a Sinagua people from 1125 CE to 140 CE before they moved north and east to what is now part of the Hopi reservation. This is a fee site for the National Park Service and will require payment on most days.  We were very lucky and happened to hit it on a free park day. Normally the fee is $10 per adult, children under 16 are free.  The fee is good for seven days and will also allow you to enter Montezuma's Castle National Monument. When you arrive and park in the loop lot you can head up the steps to the visitor center.  The visitor center has some interesting displays about the people who inhabited Tuzigoot and some items that were found when the site was excavated.  There is also a nice gift shop located in the visitors center.  Ther