Mendocino County

We crossed the mountains and arrived at highway 1 at Albion after passing lots of folks headed southeast from what I presume was a weekend on the coast. Many were stopped at the quaint little shops and wineries in small towns along 128. Soon we arrived in Mendocino, a cute little town that hugs the coast and sits atop the rugged shore high on a cliff. There are many old 19th century houses which resemble those in New England as that is where the settlers came from in the 1850s because of the timber in this area. It is a small town with approximately 900 residents but on this Sunday afternoon there seemed to be that many tourists in town. It has become a haven for artists. It was the town in the TV show "Murder She Wrote." The town is a major destination for San Francisco Bay Area folks looking for a weekend getaway.









Large towers dotted the hillsides. Many are or were water towers but I am not so sure about the rest. They remind me of towers on the east coast that were built to see the whalers returning.


We made what is fast becoming an everyday afternoon stop for a cup of coffee in a bakery. In the 1854 Ford House visitors center we visited with a fellow whose family was from Dardanelle, Arkansas.


As there was not a camping option we moved up the coast to Fort Bragg after strolling the streets. It is a much larger town with 7,000 people which had many older homes and seemed to need a good paint job. We weren't too impressed although there were a couple of cute city blocks. But it was afternoon and we were tired and I think we probably missed the neatest parts. Nevertheless we are in heaven wandering along the coast, thru the redwoods, and in wine country. Fort Bragg was established in 1857 to oversee the Mendocino Indian Reservation and later became a port and lumber town. We did visit the library where several of the homeless folks were hanging out.

Further north we followed the twisting and winding scenic Pacific Coast Highway to the Westport area where we stopped for the night at Westport Union Landing State Park which is nothing more than picnic tables in a field for $23 a night but we have a view of the ocean to die for.




The next morning we saw the other parts of this beach parking that was what we expected on a high cliff overlooking the ocean. We just hadn't driven far enough. We drove along the ocean on highway 1 in a morning fog but not long enough for me. It was breathtaking.

Soon we were headed inland over the mountains to highway 101 but what a scenic drive through the redwoods. We passed several older places, some apparently deserted. It was as if we had stepped back in time. The old logging town of Leggett seemed to be out of business or perhaps we just did not detour far enough.