California - 2008 Official State Visitor's Guide and Travel Planner - (Page 20) discover » getaway » mendocino mendocino weekend The destination is breathtaking, but then, so is the journey t’s 90°, deliciously warm for a San Franciscan, as we enter the Anderson Valley, and I roll down the window. We are officially on vacation and I want to soak up every detail, including the fragrance of coyote brush, oak trees, and dark earth baking in the sun. My husband and I have rented a cottage in Mendocino L Mendocino]. This [ means a whole weekend devoted to impromptu picnics and romantic dinners, strolling through Mendocino, a town so aesthetically blessed it almost seems unreal, and exploring what is arguably the most spectacular coastline in the state. But we’re in no rush—on this trip, the journey is as good as the destination. Here in the Anderson Valley we’ll gather provisions for our stay: wine, produce, and eggs so pure the yolks are like gold. We arrive in Boonville, population 1,000, with rumbling bellies. Perfect. A few stops: the Boonville General Store for salads and cheeses, and Boont Berry Farm for baguettes, the famous local eggs, and a bounty of fruit, all grown within the county lines. Then it’s back in the car, Willie Nelson as our sound track, and we’re off to finish stocking our cooler. Gowan’s Oak Tree farmstand is an institution. It started selling its fresh fruit 100 years before this area became known for some of California’s finest wineries. To drive by without a stop would be a rookie mistake. The ice-cold apple cider is as much the taste of the valley as its famous Pinot Noirs. We buy a gallon. We’re going to be gone for two whole days, after all. 20 I After our picnic at Navarro Vineyards— with a view and a glass L mendo wine] [ of Pinot Grigio—the Navarro River leads us through the redwoods and out to the Pacific. We arrive in Mendocino ready to hit the bluffs and walk off some of our earlier indulgence. The views are spectacular: the endless ocean (we even spy a whale spout); the village, like some movie set (and indeed, many famous films L locations] have [ been shot here, including The Russians Are Coming and Summer of ’42 ). The blufftop trail traces a wide U that leads us back into town. We hate to leave the water but we’ll be back tomorrow, paddling kayaks through the kelp beds at the mouth of the Big River. We spend the next hour admiring the architecture, galleries, and gardens in the village, slowly working up an appetite. Tonight it’s dinner and fresh huckleberry daiquiris at MacCallum House Inn & Restaurant, to be followed by Irish coffees at the Mendocino Hotel. In the meantime, we get carried away with the camera. My husband shoots California poppies at the base of a street sign, then looks up sheepishly. “It’s Mendocino,” he says. “This is art.” SAMANTHA SCHOECH CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE Jog with a friend on a Mendocino Coast beach; dine at MacCallum House; shop at the Philo Apple Farm; taste wine at Navarro Vineyards; stroll the Mendocino village; summer produce at Gowan’s Oak Tree. Enter L keyword in Search box at visitcalifornia.com http://www.visitcalifornia.com
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