California 2005, Part II: Mendocino coast

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We woke up in the hot, dry, Napa Valley and fell asleep in the cool, coastal Mendocino area (more specifically Fort Bragg). It was pretty uneventful, but undoubtably beautiful. It's like you're in the quaint California countryside, and then all of a sudden you're in the mountains. And I don't mind at all. Mendocino's a real hippie town - it's full of intertwining gardens that boast plants not readily found in the great state of Illinois and little shops. I love the fog that surrounds the area from the Pacific. We pretty much just walked around all day, taking lunch in a home deli and getting coffee in little standing room only cafes. So quaint! We ate in Fort Bragg, which is definitely more fisherman town than Mendocino. We also took a stop at what is known as Glass Beach, which according to locals used to be a landfill type area and now is just a beach full of rocks with plastic forks imbedded in them, or tires, or glass. We saw some cool wildlife there too. After dinner, we went back to our motel. It was awesome; you could see the Pacific from our window. We spent much of the next day in Mendocino before driving down Highway 1 through Point Arena, Elk, and Fort Ross where we stayed the next night. I have to say that was my favorite place to stay. Each room was actually a tiny little house with the Pacific literally in its backyard. It was crazy waking up to the ocean right there. We didn't do much, and since I was real tired I just relaxed around our little hut. The next day we left to go back to San Francisco. I don't really have much else to say, this place is just that cool. Just look at the pictures.

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