Who knew we could pack so much stuff? The front wheels seem to still touch the ground so we're headed North!
Healdsburg
Day one was a warm up drive – just a few hours up to Sonoma County and Healdsburg – home of one of our favorite wineries (Hawkes!) and one of my favorite restaurants (Barndiva). Barndiva and Hawkes were both closed on a Monday (oops!).
We stayed at a Harvest Hosts location, Mazanita Creek Winery https://manzanitacreek.com/ - and discovered some of the best Zinfandel I have ever tried!
Harvest Hosts www.harvethosts.com will likely be mentioned often on our blog since they find wineries, farms, golf courses, etc. that allow RV’s to spend the night in what are often spectacular settings. Let’s just say that this particular location was a huge disappointment when it comes to scenery (because it was literally a spot in between two warehouses), but the owner is such a character (dead head converted to wine maker??), the wine was so good, and the location was within walking distance into Healdsburg (well, perhaps Cheryl's and Max’s definition of walking distance - a bit more than mine!).
Great Zin means BBQ to me - and since Barndiva was closed, we walked to KINsmoke www.kinsmoke.com. Brisket is my bellwether for any BBQ joint and these guys do it right.
KINsmoke had outdoor seating so we were able to bring Max - and the scenery was pleasant, with a park across the street. We were touched by how Healdsburg had printed class photos for all their 2020 graduates and attached them to light poles all over the town - very classy move (pun sort of intended!)
Sleeping in an industrial parking lot does contribute to getting up early and heading out – especially when the shop next door is dropping sheets of stainless steel less than 30 yards away! A couple shots of espresso, and we were off!
On to day two…
Anderson Valley to the Mendocino Coast
Healdsburg to Ft. Bragg via Anderson Valley on CA128 was an amazing drive! For a short drive, this one has it all: a perfect, freshly paved section of the 101, followed by a steep, switchback climb up the mountain, a beautiful valley with farms and wineries, a brief redwood forest, then finishing on the Mendocino Coast. An epic few hours of driving! There is nowhere else I have ever had so much variety (roads, terrain, views, climates) in such a short span.
Booneville was a highlight of the drive. Unfortunately, Anderson Valley Brewing was closed due to Covid, but the Booneville General Store and Deli proved to be an awesome replacement. Home made everything! Their breakfast sandwich was legendary – it was so good, we bought a sandwich for lunch and put it in the fridge to eat later.
Mendocino is everything I’d expect from a North Coast seaside town. A tourist trap filled with a combination of loggers and hippies, lots of hemp clothing, and phenomenal scenery. We took a closed trail down to the beach where Max ran like he’d just robbed a bank and then we had lunch in our RV overlooking the Bay. If every stop going forward has those views looking out our windows, this is going to be a special trip!
Max preferring to run rather than pose
Easy parallel parking ;)
Best view in the house for lunch!
Pomo Campground, Ft. Bragg, CA
Most of the sites we have stayed at have been pretty packed together with minimal privacy – even the “luxury” spots where we've stayed. Pomo was a welcome exception! Almost every site had tons of space - and the hedges and trees between sites provided great privacy. It was close to town, peaceful, private – all in all it’s a top 5 site for me!
Glass Beach, Ft. Bragg, CA
It's hard to get too excited to go to a beach that used to be a trash dump - and now it's draw is the broken glass pieces that have formed the beach, but we went anyway. To be fair, there are a limited number of tourism highlights in Ft. Bragg, especially when the number one on my list – the North Coast Brewery – was closed. (I mean if drinking Clorox cures Covid, beer should be a reasonable second best right?)
Glass Beach ended up being massively crowded with hundreds of people kicking up sand and rocks to find pieces of glass.
We found an exit near the back and escaped quickly. To paraphrase Ace Ventura – “do not go there” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUfS_2UGftg
Ft Bragg Farmers Market
Hello!!! Fresh fish. Fresh produce. Fresh bread. Fresh donuts!! Done, done, done and DONE!! Traveling along the coast is so fun if you love fresh fish. I don’t have many complaints about living in the Bay Area, but it's hard to find good fish and even harder to find it at reasonable prices. Welcome to the Coast!! We’ve had Salmon, Halibut and Salmon on consecutive nights. I should probably send the link for this blog to my doctor!! 😊
Thank you, Scott for an epic bottle of wine!!!
Hiking, Biking - to the Beach!
We’re maintaining a pretty good activity level at the start of the trip and between hiking, biking and beach walks, cocktail hour every night is easily rationalized! Dennis and Bonnie suggested a trail ride at Van Damme State Park. (Who knew that John Claude had a park named after him?!? 😊)
Riding through Redwoods along a stream reminded me of mountain biking in the Pacific Northwest. A very memorable ride and a reminder of the endless variety of mini climates in California! Sunny and 65 along the coast where we entered the park and upper 50’s at best riding up a valley a mile or two inland. Crazy!
Ft Bragg to Trinidad via CA Hwy 1
Holy &%$@#!!! That is one tough drive!! For 15-20 miles north of Ft. Bragg, it’s a scenic, peaceful drive. Then you turn east, climb 1,500 feet up extremely narrow roads with switchbacks, no shoulders to speak of and frequent 100+ foot drops.
The shortest distance between two points? It looks like someone shot silly string onto our GPS screen. Good God!!!
Hwy 1 Big Sur was a cake walk in comparison. The good news for the day: road construction just before the hard part (~40 miles worth!) of the drive.
The road was down to one lane with a 10-15 minute wait for a pilot car to take us through the construction zone. We only had 5 cars behind us after the escorted drive, so I let them pass us and we didn’t see another car for close to an hour! The very slow (I bet we averaged 15 MPH for close to 90 minutes) and very precise driving was so much easier without worrying about holding up traffic. I hated driving on the 101 the last time we drove it, but I have never been happier than when we escaped Hwy 1 at Leggett and merged onto 101. I’m glad we did it, but it will be the last time in a 40,000 pound rig!!!
The burger and beer tasted amazingly good after that drive!!
Time to start exploring Trinidad...
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