Abby drove Amy and I over to Muir Woods, to walk back along the Ben Johnson trail to Pantoll Station, then down the Steep Ravine Trail to Stinson Beach, where this shot was taken at our lunch spot. Abby came in with us a little way, but was eager to get back to surfing. Her appreciation of nature is different from ours: she likes contact rather than contemplation.

We had an interesting moment on the way up, when we ran into a Christian group in prayer that was blocking the trail. They were just finishing up as we arrived, so we pressed on through, but the etiquette of the trail clashed with the etiquette of the church. When I related this to Abby at dinner she expressed indignantly all the feelings of outrage that I was turning over as I continued up the trail.

Immediately after the Christians, we ran into a crowd of kids at a day camp, with green t-shirts. After that it calmed down, and soon we were walking through the extraordinary quiet of the redwood forest.

Abby had a good afternoon surfing, and tried to call us down when we got back, but we were otherwise occupied.

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