A Missed Opportunity

This morning I was hiking in Montgomery Woods. For two hours, I did not see another person in the grove. Just as I was hiking out, a fine dressed couple was standing on the lip of the grove taking a picture of a deer not too far away. (In order to reach the grove, a person must hike a quarter of a mile or so uphill. Once a person reaches the lip, there is a slight downhill that leads to the grove and then it completely flattens out. There, on the plane, are the giant redwoods.)

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your picture," I said to the couple.
"Oh, that's quite all right, I got the picture I wanted," the man said in an English accent.
"So," the man said, "is there anything else to see here, or is it just more trees?"
"More trees?" I asked somewhat shocked. The couple hadn't even entered the grove yet.
"Oh, I mean they are quite lovely," the man said obviously sensing my shock at his question.

At this point, I tried to convince the couple to head in and walk around the trees for a little while. I also tried to give a few facts about redwoods but quickly realized that my point of view was quite lacking in persuasion. I am no salesman that's for sure. Facts in my brain are like water through a spaghetti strainer. Unless I practice regularly, facts eventually drain out of my mind, and all I'm left with is a few drops of knowledge here and there. I realized it was a missed opportunity. In order to show folks that these can be more than "just trees," I will have to work on solidifying a presentation, to give folks a reason to go in, get a little dirty, and hopefully allow the trees to teach them a thing or two.