[Travel] [Restaurant Review] [Recipe] Early Morning Muir Woods + Breakfast and Millionaire's Bacon

I admit—too often, my first thought for travel is that it's expensive and far away and I'll need to make sure my passport is up to date.  But that's definitely not true—I'm lucky enough to live in the U.S., and there are amazingly beautiful things to see (and delicious things to eat) right here, in every state in the union.

One of the many stunning things you can see in California are the redwoods forests.  There are so many parks at which you can do so, including the Redwood National and State Parks (consisting of four parks), the Big Basin Redwoods State Park, and the Humboldt Redwoods State Park, but perhaps the easiest one to get to is the Muir Woods National Monument.  The Muir Woods are just a little over 16 miles outside San Francisco proper (though it will likely take you 45 minutes or so to get there by car) and feature easy boardwalk loops as well as proper hiking trails.  You'll want to arrive early in the morning, if possible, to beat the crowds—there isn't a lot of parking available—although the Internet lets me know that eventually the Muir Woods will move toward a reservation system—keep an eye on that over the next couple of years, as you'll need to plan ahead a bit more than we had to in the near future.

These steps lead to adventure and stunning views and photo ops.

Under the canopy of the redwoods, you feel so small.  Can you even spot me in this shot?  I think if you could zoom in, you'd see I wasn't even looking at the camera here—was just looking up in awe.

I didn't get a chance to take a proper hike this trip (my friend and I were squeezing this visit in the morning of my flight back to the East Coast), but there was plenty of beauty just along the boardwalk.  Don't underestimate, though, just how cold it can be in the middle of the forest—walking will warm you up, but you'll definitely need long sleeves, and a sweater or a light jacket are probably smart.

We took a healthy number of photos and read our fair share of informational placards.  It took a little over an hour for a pair of New Yorkers (meaning only that we walk quickly) to do the longest boardwalk loop—the park, I think, recommends you take 2 hours to do that same loop.

Before (or after) your morning hike, drive a little over a mile to Kitchen Sunnyside for a delicious, hearty breakfast.

Kitchen Sunnyside
31 Sunnyside Ave., Suite 1
Mill Valley, CA 94941
(415) 326-5159

They've got tons of delicious options both sweet and savory (plus lots of vegetarian dishes if that's your jam), and all the portions are huge.  Pictured below are the Morning Tacos with chipotle aioli, avocado, scrambled eggs, chicken apple sausage, bacon, tomato, cilantro, mild cheddar, and parmesan, and topped with roasted salsa and pico de gallo and sour cream.  Served with your choice of potato medley (my choice), home fries, hash brown or salad.

I made sure to order a side of millionaire's bacon-- don't forget yours.  Millionaire's bacon appears to have been invented (or at least made popular) by San Francisco's Sweet Maple restaurant.  I've actually made this bacon myself before at home—with regular bacon—but it really is best made thick.  Try for yourself using the recipe below—but also definitely order it when you're next in San Francisco.

Millionaire's Bacon
an original recipe by tammiest (The Passionfruit Fashionista) 

Ingredients
1 pound of thick-cut bacon
5 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Line a baking pan with foil.  Combine all of the spices and the brown sugar together in a bowl and mix thoroughly—if you like things spicy, increase the amount of spice to taste.  Handcoat each strip of bacon with the mixture.
3.  Bake for 25-35 minutes until the bacon is crisp.  Cool for at least 10 minutes before enjoying.