Thursday, May 24, 2012

Exploring Mendocino

In May, we drove to Mendocino, California, where we stayed at the Little River Inn by the Pacific Ocean. We like getting away from the hustle and bustle of San Jose to a quiet and secluded place. The drive to Mendocino is long but not very tedious, though a section of the road is a bit winding.

We ate a delicious breakfast at the Little River Inn in the morning. This included chocolate chip pancakes (which Alex really liked).




Alex, Inna, and I drank some excellent, delicious cappuccinos,  mochas, and hot chocolates at Moody's Organic Coffee Bar in downtown Mendocino.



We ate lunch at the Cultured Affair Cafe, and Alex had some ice cream.



The Mendocino area has excellent hiking, mountain biking, and kayaking at this time of the year.
On May 25th, Inna and I hiked (and Alex mountain biked) one of the trails in the Van Damme State Park.





We mountain biked the Big River Trail and kayaked the Big River, Mendocino. The trail runs for about 10 miles or about a 1-2 hour ride each way.








On May 26th, we canoed down the Big River, starting from Catch a Canoe and Bicycles Too rental shop. We saw lots of wild birds and a few harbor seals.






















On May 27th, we visited the Mendocino Botanical Gardens, where we enjoyed looking at the various flowers. We also enjoyed the ocean view.
























Eventually, we made it to the beautiful Mendocino coastal shore.