Road trip: June 2016

It felt like we were definitely off the grid. The road  went up and over hills of golden grass interspersed with healthy looking grape plants. Once and a while we would drive by a small winery. Cloverdale was miles behind, as we made out way from Sonoma County to the coastal town of Mendocino, California.

There were few cars on highway 128, but I let them all pass at the frequent turnouts, since Vicki and I wanted to see the sights at a leisure pace. Eventually we came to redwood groves, a sign that we were nearing the coast.

Little River Inn

At one point I rounded a corner, and there was the Pacific Ocean in front of me. The rocky coast was attractive and very different from our shoreline in San Diego. The sky was clear with bright sun and blue sky. Soon we arrived at The Little River Inn, two miles from Mendocino. Our room has a magnificent ocean view, and there was a 9-hole golf course 75 yards behind the Inn.

The town of Mendocino was smaller than I had imagined. It was funky with artistic shops and hip eateries. The view of the rugged coastline was striking. We ate lunch at a local place and split a salad with fresh tuna. Our waiter from Costa Rica told us he had bought rental units over the years in Ft. Bragg, a town ten miles north. He spent his winters in Costa Rica and his summers on the coast of California. Not a bad program, I thought.

Later we stopped at a cove, where scuba divers were scurrying in and out of rubber boats. Upon inquiry I learned that it was abalone season and the gold rush atmosphere of the beach then began to make sense.

That evening we walked for thirty seconds from our room to the main building of the inn to our window table. Our dinner accompanied by local wines was excellent.

The morning was cool but clear, as we made our way to the Inn’s golf course. I learned that an early owner of the Inn wanted to build a course on the property after watching Arnold palmer play in a tournament on TV. He consulted several golf course architects, but the money they wanted was excessive in the owner’s mind. He decided to build the course himself, and he did.

Scene from the Inn

The course, which snaked through groves of redwoods, was funky and fun. Deer wandered around the different holes. There were a lot of locals playing, but they were friendly and waved us through. There were 11 greens so that there was  more variety, when golfers played the nine holes again.

Later that day we drove to Fort Bragg for lunch. Less trendy than Mendocino, this town was a pleasant place with a blue-collar feel to it. We were both struck by  how much open land along the ocean existed along highway 1 from Mendocino to Fort Bragg.

The next day we played golf,  went to town, and relaxed at the Inn. I never tired of looking at the rugged coastline from our room. Eventually we made out way to dinner, which as usual was excellent. In the morning it was back off the grid, as we drove through the hills to Sonoma.