1st Wedding Anniversary

To celebrate our first wedding anniversary, we went hiking! Would anyone guess it right? We didn't even know we would do such a healthy activity!

"Fairy house" behind Old Mill Park

We didn't plan anything particular. Just wanted to relax and enjoy the day. The hiking idea came up when we were going to El Paseo for dinner and drove by a place in Mill Valley called Old Mill Park. Yet it was kind of late by the time we discovered it. We just quickly drove through the neighborhood and were amused it was actually a natural beauty. Houses were like in fairy tales. A little river ran by the houses which were built in a forest among all sorts of vegetation. Gee, people living there were really lucky. So nice we decided to come back again the next day even we knew we had to give another 6 bucks to pass through the Golden Gate bridge.

Redwood forest in Mill Valley

So we did come back on the 8th. We walked throught the park this time. It was actually small and surrounded by lots of tall redwood trees that drop huge shadows over the place. Kids playing and swinging at the little children playground. Some people were doing yoga while others walking dogs. A guy was playing a unique woodwind instrument in the woods. The whole picture was beautiful and peaceful. There was a trail started from this Old Mill park that led all the way to the top of the hill. Before we hit the slope, I needed to find a restroom and that made me find out another nice place which was the Mill Valley public library. It was built so nicely with the nature that you didn't realize it unless you paid more attention.

So we began the long steep stairs of the trail called "Dipsea". It was then I realized I forgot my camera. I was so angry to myself. How could I not have it on such an important day? I tried to calm myself down by thinking it might be God's will whom wanted us to totally enjoy ourselves but not to bother about pictures. Put them all in mind not computer....I ended up using my cell phone to take pictures.

So we walked for 3 hours in total. From about 10:30am to 1:30pm and we enjoyed it cause we love woods and nature. We went hiking before and liked doing it once in awhile. We didn't talk much this time during hiking cause we saw two signs that made me very nervous. One warned about mountain lions. Another said trail closed due to mudslide and was illegal to pass through. But Hadi was excited. He was obviously a LOT more adventurous than I was. He didn't care about the mudslide at all and would be very happy to "meet" the mountain lion. I totally ignored his enthusiasm but just kept walking and refused to talk until we returned to the ground.


Dipsea trail is very long. We just covered little part of it. The entire distance is 7 miles from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach. A lady told us an annual trail race was coming up this month. It was one of the two oldest trail race in the country. Number of runners is limited and all these racers are carefully selected. We did see people practicing for the race. It was really a challenge with all those stairs and slopes.

Mill Valley is a little old town. We discovered something new everytime we went there. I feel there's still a lot waiting for us to explore. I'm glad that we both love this place and were so fortunate to have our wedding there. Of course I want to revisit this place every anniversary. But I believe I can't wait another year before I pay the 6 bucks again.