Mendocino getaway
I haven’t blogged again for three weeks – terrible! Well, here’s a quick catch-up. Two weeks ago, we had a friend from Hoddesdon to visit (Tom). On the Saturday, I went with him down to the De Young museum in Golden Gate Park to see the Chihuly exhibition. Chihuly is a glass artist who makes wonderful, colourful formations, which look fabulous lit up against a dark background. In spite of the fact that we had a timed ticket, there were still hordes of people. We spent the rest of the (very sunny) day seeing the main sights, like Alamo Square, Haight Ashbury, the Ferry Building and Pier 39 with the sealions. The next day, we weren’t so lucky with the weather, as some low fog spoilt our plans to go for hike on Point Reyes. Instead, we did a walk on the top of Mount Tam, where it was very hot above the fog layer. I managed to trip and cut a hole in my hand, but fortunately, it’s just about healed now.
Last weekend was a lazy one for the most part (for me at least) - poor Jon was revising for his maths exam, which he had last Wednesday. On the Sunday, I volunteered down at the Castro Street Fair on behalf of the organisation I used to work for, Shanti. It was good fun, but surprisingly tiring standing there for three and a half hours in the hot sunshine.
This weekend, I had booked us a cottage just south of the small coastal town of Mendocino, about 150 miles north. It was the first time we had travelled over the Golden Gate on a Friday night, and the traffic was somewhat stickier than expected. We arrived pretty late, but fortunately, the cottage managers had pinned the key outside their office. We awoke to a beautiful, sunny day on Saturday. We got up slowly, enjoying the luxury of a bacon and egg breakfast and watching hummingbirds hover around the landscaped garden, before heading out to do a hike in a small state park a little way up the coast. The walk took us up from the coast through different types of woodland to a small “pygmy forest”, where trees a hundred years old or more had only grown to a few feet due to poor soil conditions. Afterwards, we drove up to a rather uncharming town called Fort Bragg to see the so-called Glass Beach. Apparently, until about half way through the last century, people just used to dump their rubbish in the ocean there. As a result of the sea smashing against it over the years, the beach got covered in small glass pebbles. Needless to say, no one dumps their rubbish there now, and in fact it is inhabited by seals. Before heading back for a cosy evening in the cottage, we strolled down to the Point Cabrillo lighthouse, built in 1909 to service the booming post-earthquake lumber trade, then stopped in the quaint town of Mendocino itself. The town was settled by East coasters, apparently, which explains the New England style houses, perched attractively on the bluffs above lovely little coves. Nearly every shop was a gift shop, though! When we got back to the cottage complex, we were met by a rather plump English bulldog, aptly called Buddah, and his rather asthmatic French bulldog friend, which belonged to another guest. We lounged around on our little deck, taking in the ocean views before dinner.
This morning, we went for what turned out to be a fabulous run from the cottage, down to the little beach nearby and through part of Van Damme state park. We followed the appropriately named Fern Canyon up a shady creek. It was icy cold, but invigorating. Of course, we passed a couple of mountain lion warning signs along the way. Marvellous. When the activity we were engaged in was jogging – just the thing to incite a big cat’s chase instinct. However, we avoided attack and returned for another well-deserved big breakfast. We then went for a stroll on the Mendocino headland bluffs, admiring the many rock arches and natural harbours, finally wandering into the town for a coffee. Before leaving the area, we took another coastal stroll (the highlight of which was seeing a stag disappear into the undergrowth - too fast for a photo!), then drove back towards the freeway through the gorgeous Anderson Valley. We travelled first through a huge redwood forest (coastal redwoods being the tallest trees in the world), then through rolling hills, apple orchards, vineyards and olive groves. We stopped briefly at a small, unpretentious winery with a cute little tasting shack where the tastings were… wait for it… free! Amazing. On the way back, we tried to get dinner at a fish restaurant by one of the marinas in Sausalito, but the line was so long that we gave up, and went instead to an excellent Thai place in the city. However, we still managed to enjoy some great views across the pink-hued Bay at sunset from Sausalito. Arriving back at the flat shortly after 9, we saw a small red glow out on Angel Island – fire! It’s now an hour and a half later and the fire is covering most of the eastern side of the island, which is really sad. They’ve ferried fire engines over there, but surprisingly, there are no helicopters. No one lives on Angel Island except park staff, but it’s a lovely state park and a gorgeous place to visit, with a few interesting old military buildings.
Jon and are suffering other trials right now, as we can’t get a tenant for our house. The letting agent told us that there has not been much interest, largely due to the crashing economy. If we can’t get a tenant soon, we’ll have to come back, something neither of us wants to do. Whenever we have to do it, giving up the California lifestyle is going to be extremely difficult.
Last weekend was a lazy one for the most part (for me at least) - poor Jon was revising for his maths exam, which he had last Wednesday. On the Sunday, I volunteered down at the Castro Street Fair on behalf of the organisation I used to work for, Shanti. It was good fun, but surprisingly tiring standing there for three and a half hours in the hot sunshine.
This weekend, I had booked us a cottage just south of the small coastal town of Mendocino, about 150 miles north. It was the first time we had travelled over the Golden Gate on a Friday night, and the traffic was somewhat stickier than expected. We arrived pretty late, but fortunately, the cottage managers had pinned the key outside their office. We awoke to a beautiful, sunny day on Saturday. We got up slowly, enjoying the luxury of a bacon and egg breakfast and watching hummingbirds hover around the landscaped garden, before heading out to do a hike in a small state park a little way up the coast. The walk took us up from the coast through different types of woodland to a small “pygmy forest”, where trees a hundred years old or more had only grown to a few feet due to poor soil conditions. Afterwards, we drove up to a rather uncharming town called Fort Bragg to see the so-called Glass Beach. Apparently, until about half way through the last century, people just used to dump their rubbish in the ocean there. As a result of the sea smashing against it over the years, the beach got covered in small glass pebbles. Needless to say, no one dumps their rubbish there now, and in fact it is inhabited by seals. Before heading back for a cosy evening in the cottage, we strolled down to the Point Cabrillo lighthouse, built in 1909 to service the booming post-earthquake lumber trade, then stopped in the quaint town of Mendocino itself. The town was settled by East coasters, apparently, which explains the New England style houses, perched attractively on the bluffs above lovely little coves. Nearly every shop was a gift shop, though! When we got back to the cottage complex, we were met by a rather plump English bulldog, aptly called Buddah, and his rather asthmatic French bulldog friend, which belonged to another guest. We lounged around on our little deck, taking in the ocean views before dinner.
This morning, we went for what turned out to be a fabulous run from the cottage, down to the little beach nearby and through part of Van Damme state park. We followed the appropriately named Fern Canyon up a shady creek. It was icy cold, but invigorating. Of course, we passed a couple of mountain lion warning signs along the way. Marvellous. When the activity we were engaged in was jogging – just the thing to incite a big cat’s chase instinct. However, we avoided attack and returned for another well-deserved big breakfast. We then went for a stroll on the Mendocino headland bluffs, admiring the many rock arches and natural harbours, finally wandering into the town for a coffee. Before leaving the area, we took another coastal stroll (the highlight of which was seeing a stag disappear into the undergrowth - too fast for a photo!), then drove back towards the freeway through the gorgeous Anderson Valley. We travelled first through a huge redwood forest (coastal redwoods being the tallest trees in the world), then through rolling hills, apple orchards, vineyards and olive groves. We stopped briefly at a small, unpretentious winery with a cute little tasting shack where the tastings were… wait for it… free! Amazing. On the way back, we tried to get dinner at a fish restaurant by one of the marinas in Sausalito, but the line was so long that we gave up, and went instead to an excellent Thai place in the city. However, we still managed to enjoy some great views across the pink-hued Bay at sunset from Sausalito. Arriving back at the flat shortly after 9, we saw a small red glow out on Angel Island – fire! It’s now an hour and a half later and the fire is covering most of the eastern side of the island, which is really sad. They’ve ferried fire engines over there, but surprisingly, there are no helicopters. No one lives on Angel Island except park staff, but it’s a lovely state park and a gorgeous place to visit, with a few interesting old military buildings.
Jon and are suffering other trials right now, as we can’t get a tenant for our house. The letting agent told us that there has not been much interest, largely due to the crashing economy. If we can’t get a tenant soon, we’ll have to come back, something neither of us wants to do. Whenever we have to do it, giving up the California lifestyle is going to be extremely difficult.
