We didn’t expect to have any time between the Coastal Redwoods and the airport drive.

We didn’t expect to see the coastline, not when the sign read Beach Closed.

We didn’t expect this winter season to give us any kind of color, especially when the gray fog dipped low over the hilltops all around us.

We didn’t expect to turn towards the arrow that read beach overlook and find any sort of view or path. We had no idea if it was even open in this quiet off-season.

No, we didn’t expect this last nugget of pure shining beauty, in the form of an empty overlook, at the top of Muir Beach.

We did not expect our last stop to be the best. Not after being over-the-top joyed at so many places in the San Francisco Bay Area – Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Par, Chinatown, Napa Valley, and the Coastal Redwood forest.

No, we did not expect this at all.

And it took our breath away.

**Click on any photo to enlarge and view as a slideshow**.

In the depth a light will grow,
A silver shine no shadows know,
Like wings unfolding in the sky,
That circle ’round a gleaming eye,
Turning darkness all away,
Even depths will know their day,
For every shadow has its end,
In light!
Life will return again!

― Robert Fanney

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