Somewhere 2 Travel - Mendocino (2019)

somewhere 2 Travel across the

USA

“MENDoCINO” (2019)

Set north out of San Francisco, drive across the big red bridge, drink from the big red wine, zig-zag through the big redwood forest, and you’ll make it to our favorite town in America.

Mendocino - we fell in love with the town and now dream of one day building a home there - under a big crooked tree. It doesn’t have to be red.

Redwood National Park.

There’s nothing like some very big trees to put be reminded of how small we are.

The drive through Redwood National Park is so unassuming - just one small road through endless, towering trees, most of which are hundreds, if not thousands, of years older than us, and will survive for hundreds of years after we’re gone.

CA 1-N takes you across the Big River into Mendocino (yes, it is actually called Big River) and the arrival is beautifully dramatic, with the river spilling into Mendocino Bay and the roofs of Mendocino peeking over the edge of the cliffs of the small peninsula.

We rented a charming little cottage from a dear friend of the family. It could not have been more perfect, with an stunning view, a gorgeous garden, and two chairs in the yard that came with the promise of the most amazing of sunsets in the west coast.

It seems like one of those worry-free little towns that can only exist in movies - and that’s because it is.

We learned that Mendocino has appeared in many movies maybe because you can’t help but feel you are in that kind of perfect place

Pizza, ice cream, beer, wine, and falafel.

What else could you ask for?

Jessica Fletcher’s house

Fields of wishes to be wished

Strict building codes have secured the town’s charming feel and kept construction large fields away from the cliffs, which are filled with succulents and wildflowers.

What do you call a cypress that has decided to wrap its roots around a rock and spread its branches along the edge of a cliff with the most incredible of views? Magical.

The driftwood dance

The chapel.

Atop a cliff, in the belly of a little cove, there is a small, wooded area where towering cypresses embrace their branches high above the ground and leave an almost religious space inside that offers a view that asks for no stained glass windows.

We couldn’t put our cameras down in Mendocino - every way you turned them, even if they were pointed straight at the ground, made for a perfect shot.

The 4th of July parade gave us a good idea of how free to express ourselves we could be

Eat your heart out, Bernabéu

Our dear friends, Erin and Tomas. A painter with a carpenter - perfect soulmates.

Every afternoon, we walked across the field next to the house to watch the sunset from the cliffs. On our last afternoon, the laughter of three little girls came out of nowhere. There they were, running to the top of the hill to catch the sun before it went to sleep - a magical moment that only a child’s imagination can conjure.

When the morning to depart arrived, we seriously considered not leaving...

Mendocino. We’ll be back, we know how to find you.

Bridge, wine, trees. All red.

One cool brother’s cool stuff in San Francisco

Travis. One cool brother