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ROAD TRIPS
Driving Mendocino County
Misty, craggy, and full of Northern California's specific brand of charm, Mendocino marches to the beat of its own drum circle
by Glen Helfand   |   March 2005 issue

Next stop, Gualala--pronounced "wah-la-la," FYI--and the St. Orres hotel, where we're staying. It's difficult to miss, as the building looks like some kind of Russian Orthodox fantasy, all cedar and stained glass. Deer and wild turkeys peacefully graze on the hillside nearby. The main structure has eight rooms and a restaurant, but we're issued a spacious and secluded cabin a few hundred feet up the road.

Tuckered out from canoeing, we stick close to home for dinner. The restaurant's menu, which we thumbed through in the cottage, suggests you can order hearty pastas and appetizers, but the actual experience is more formal--and pricey-- than we were bargaining for. So we make do by ordering an assortment of light appetizers--tiny morsels of baby abalone with seared scallops, a savory wild mushroom tart, garlic flan, and a salad. It's delicious and just about enough to tide us over for the night.


The backyard table at the Apple Farm (Emily Nathan)

MARCH 2005 ISSUE
• Table of Contents
• Dream Destinations Around the World
• A Romantic Trip to Italy
• Driving Mendocino County
• How to Buy a Bikini in Rio
• 50 All-Star Family Camps: The 2005 List
• Ecolodges Let You Sleep at Night with a Clean Conscience
• Milking Your Manicure
• Spain's New Golden Age

Day three

Lodging

  • St. Orres 36601 South Hwy. 1, Gualala, 707/884-3303, saintorres.com, rooms from $90, dinner $40

    • Food

  • Corners of the Mouth 45015 Ukiah St., Mendocino, 707/937-5345

  • Little River Market 7746 North Hwy. 1, Little River, 707/937-5133, lunch $6

    • Attractions

  • Catch a Canoe & Bicycles, Too 44850 Comptche-Ukiah Rd., Mendocino, 707/937-0273, canoe rental $20 per hour, two-hour minimum

  • Van Damme State Park Pygmy Forest, three miles south of Mendocino, Hy. 1, 707/937-5804

    • Which is not to say we don't make a few more stops. The upscale Sea Ranch resort community has award-winning '60s modernist architecture by William Turnbull and others. The houses are clustered in private enclaves with no-trespassing signs, but there are public walks along the beach at the Sea Ranch Lodge. In Bodega Bay we eat locally caught fish-and-chips at Lucas Wharf Fish & Deli, then veer inland, passing the locations for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and then the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Running Fence Historic Park, a tiny spot of green that commemorates the artists' 1976 art installation. (The 24.5-mile-long curtain of fabric wound its way from Cotati down to the sea.) As parks go, it's not much. But it drives home the point that this area is full of lovely surprises.

    Day four

  • Lucas Wharf Fish & Deli Hwy. 1, Bodega Bay, 707/875-3562, lunch $10

  • Sea Ranch Lodge 60 Sea Walk Dr., 800/732-7262, searanchlodge.com

  • Fort Ross State Historic Park 19005 Hwy. 1, Jenner, 707/847-3286, $6

  • Christo and Jeanne-Claude Running Fence Historic Park 15000 Bodega Hwy., Bodega, 707/565-2041Day oneSan Francisco to Boonville, 136 Miles  Follow Hwy. 101 north across the Golden Gate Bridge. At Santa Rosa , take the Guerneville/River Rd. exit. Turn right on Mark West Springs Rd., left on Petrified Forest Rd., and left on Hwy. 128. Jimtown is 18 miles up. Just past Geyserville, 128 meets back up with Hwy. 101. They separate again just before Cloverdale; stick with 128 north. Boonville is 26 miles past that break. Day twoBoonville to Mendocino, 39 Miles  Continue north on 128. Navarro River Redwoods State Park is two miles before the point where 128 meets Hwy. 1, at the coast. If you reach the water, you've gone too far. The town of Mendocino is 10 miles past the junction of Hwys. 128 and 1. To get to Fort Bragg, pass through Mendocino and keep driving north on Hwy. 1 for 10 miles. Backtrack on 1 to return to Mendocino for the night. Day threeMendocino to Gualala, 49 Miles Van Damme State Park is in the town of Little River, three miles south of Mendocino on Hwy. 1. Gualala is 46 miles farther south. Day fourGualala to San Francisco, 115 Miles  Jump back on Hwy. 1 to leave Gualala. At Bodega Bay, Hwy. 1 leads past Hitchcock's The Birds site. Continuing south 68 miles past Bodega Bay, the road drops you right back onto the Golden Gate Bridge and into San Francisco.


    • Note: This story was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.
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