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The Mendocino Coast, scenic Highway 1 is considered one of the most beautiful, rugged, breathtaking shoreline excursions in the world!.
Big River Beach, Mendocino photo by Bob Mc Millen, Travelwizard.com
Gualala, and Gualala River in the southern part of Mendocino County, a former lumber town, retains much of its turn-of-the-century character. Visit the rambling 1903 Gualala Hotel, and embrace nature in Gualala Point Regional Park, where trails lead to oceanfront cliffs overlooking a sandy beach. Don't miss historical Fort Ross, where the Russians first landed. The views here are spectacular!
Elk Bay, Highway One, photo taken by Bob Mc Millen, Travelwizard.com
Explore numerous hamlets, parks, great beaches, heading north, and the quaint coastal villages such as Manchester, Point Arena, Elk, Albion, and Little River. In Point Arena, look for the 115-foot-tall historic lighthouse.
The quaint village of Mendocino, a historic Cape Cod-style, bohemian enclave, known for it's counter culture, revelutionary hippies in the 70's, now has evolved into an artist colony full of interesting botiques and art studios. Fine shops, first class galleries, great restaurants and snug inns abound in this renowned artists' colony.
Mendocino vacation accommodations include some of the most renowned inns in California. Mendocino has many wonderful inns ----like the romantic Brewery Gulch Inn, just south of the Big River, nestled in the woods overlooking Smugglers Cove, the Little River Inn, The Mac Callum House Inn and the Heritage House.
Mac Callum House Inn, Mendocino
Mendocino Village doubles as the New England town of "Cabot Cove" in the television show "Murder, She Wrote". The entire village of Mendocino, established by New England whalers, turned loggers, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Catch A Canoe on Mendocino's Beautiful Big River photo taken by Bob Mc Millen, Travelwizard.com
On your Mendocino vacation be sure to pick a bucket of the delicious wild blackberries that grow in front of the village of Mendocino, then stroll over to the bluff overlooking the emerald waters of Mendocino cove. The Big River, the one that pours into Mendocino Cove, has a canoe rental, CatchaCanoe, that will let you experience miles and miles of the uninhabitated river like Louis and Clark experienced. The wildlife and extraordinary beauty you'll experience on this placid river will put you in a peaceful state of mind for days.
North of the Village of Mendocino is Casper, a tiny hamlet, with a hot night club, the Casper Inn, where the locals, tourists and well known musicians hangout and party down.
Don't miss the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens on 47 acres overlooking the Pacific. At Noyo Harbor, charter a sport-fishing boat or catch a whale-watching cruise. From either Fort Bragg or Mendocino, stroll the headlands looking for seals. And, November through April, look for migrating California gray whales.
Heading North, board the Skunk Train in nearby Fort Bragg -- named for an 1855 fort built to protect residents from hostile natives. Originally intended for logging, the train now carries passengers from this seaport through 40 miles of awe-inspiring scenery to inland Willits and back.
The Mendocino Coast is one of the best places in the world for abalone, a delicious mollusk prized by sport divers and rock pickers.
Good Tip! Do not violate California Fish and Game laws, please click here to read the regulations: The daily limit is three red abalone, the annual limit is 24 with a seven inch minimum diameter. The season is April 1st until June 30th; closed in July, Opens again August 1st. until November 30th. |
