Mendocino County Getaway

During the spring break of 2011 we went to Mendocino county (though the post is coming late, but better to be late than never ! ) and it turned out to be a very relaxing weekend, unlike most of the others that we do :). The weather during spring break turned out to be perfect for a visit to North Bay, not too cold and not hot either.
The drive on Hwy 1 for a short time is very winding. Our first destination was Van Damme State Park, Hwy 1 runs through the park seperating the beach and the park. We didn’t go through the main entrance (on hwy 1) but entered the side entrance of the park where the Pygmy forest trail starts. It’s a small trail walking on the wooden planks. The redwood trees are pygmy size here due to the nature of soil here. No restrooms at this entrance though. It was a good break after driving for approx 3.5 hrs from bay area, but nothing major here 🙂 We did the trail, ate lunch in the parking lot (few folks came by, took the trail and left). Van Damme State park also offers kayak tours but have to be reserved upfront.
Our next destination on Hwy 1 was Russian Gulch State Park, this is a beach with hiking and biking trails. Very scenic view of the bridge above the beach. One will find lot of photos of the bridge if you search online. You can also rent boats here as well. The beach was nearly empty and kids had a blast playing in the sand/water.
We then headed to Point Cabrillo Light house. There is a small museum next to the light house, had mini aquarium and fish bones etc. Can’t go up the light house, but the visitor center had nice information to share as well. A very scenic spot. Right next to the light house are vacation rental homes. There are benches in the open area for a nice picnic as well.
The next destination was the most awaited – Glass Beach, but turned out to be that there’s hardly any glass left now . Nothing like what the pictures on web show. Maybe the prior visitors picked up the glass pieces during their visit, leaving the beach now with hardly any glass 🙁 We stayed at Best Western, right opposite to the glass beach in Fort Bragg. It’s situated at a nice location, with ocean view rooms and also lots of space for kids to run around.

Fort Bragg has decent no of restaurants, fast food places as well. But on Hwy 1 you will not find any place to eat. Fort Bragg also has the famous skunk train rides, which takes you through the redwoods. We skipped the train ride as we have done both the sunol and santa cruz beach train rides before. But the skunk train ride is one of the major attractions of Fort Bragg.
Day 2 began by visiting the MacKerricher State Park. This park has tide pools, a beach area, campsites – individual as well as group sites, hiking trails, sea lion viewing and if you are lucky may spot some migrating whales as well. A must visit to this place. A huge grey whale skeleton greets you on the right just when you enter the park. A good picture spot as well as educative. The tide pools have a variety of sea creatures that one can see. We were lucky to find some rangers during our visit who were helping folks to understand the various sea creatures. Octopus, Star fish, Sea anemones and much more. Note : One has to visit the tide pools during low tide to see the sea life. The boardwalk is also nice and lots of places to explore in this park. Pack a picnic lunch, explore the tide pools, enjoy the beach access and have loads of fun here. After spending the whole of morning here and a hearty lunch we headed to see the drive thru tree. The drive from MacKerricher State Park to the drive thru tree is very scenic. The drive thru tree is in Legget Ca – http://www.drivethrutree.com/. Our mini van could pass through the tree as well 🙂 It’s basically a drive through location, with an entrance fee to drive your car through. Restrooms, gift shop and picnic benches also available as well.

The drive thru tree was the last planned destination, but we managed to sneak in a visit to the Buddhist temple which is on route 101. Dimple had mentioned about this place and it’s a nice Buddhist temple. It’s called City of 10000 Buddhas. We reached just before the closing hours of the temple. Visitors need to sign in at the front office before touring around. The temple has 10,000 Buddha idols and lots of peacocks freely roaming around inside the temple boundary. It is a town in itself for folks to stay, worship and continue their life long learning.

Overall a nice and relaxing weekend, with hardly any traffic and/or any desis around 🙂