Mendocino!

I have been following a man named Jay Shetty for a while now. He has such a cool story.  He was an everyday kind of guy. Worried about college, career, dating, and trying to live his best life in those university years. Then he met a monk at a college lecture. After listening to this monk speak, he decided to leave the busy world of London behind and became a monk himself. He said that he finally found purpose and a way of living that seemed right for him. After three years in India, he felt it best to leave the monastery that he grew to love. He decided it best for him to teach the world what he learned from living as a monk. 'Think Like a Monk' is the title of his initial book that put him on the map. Pres and I had the opportunity to see him speak in San Francisco. It was fun to see him but I'm not sure being on stage is his most comfortable place :) In all honesty, it was somewhat of a let down. However, I still enjoy his story telling and listening to him talk with people about their journeys in life. The curiosity of others and the paths they take will never dwindle from this mind of mine. 

   

Date Night!

The week after our San Francisco date, we headed to further into northern California. There has been one last place on the California adventure bucket list of mine. Mendocino, CA has been calling our name for a while. It never seemed to work out for us though. I wanted to make sure to go at a time that the whales would be migrating in hopes of seeing them on the long journey north.  Lucky for me, I patiently watched for deals on somewhere sweet to stay up there. It's about a four hour drive, so I didn't want to go for just one day. I wanted it to be an experience. We decided to make the trip during the kid's spring break!

The trip ended up being exactly what this crew of five needed. It was a lot of nature, walks, down time, great food, and a hot tub to soak all our worries away. 

The drive up to Mendocino was gorgeous. So green and full of life. There were trees everywhere. The mist and rain made it all that much better. We had to take a slight detour due to the flooding in the area but nothing crazy. Plus, the 👉drive was just gorgeous.

We arrived in the evening so we headed straight to the airbnb for the night. We settled in, ordered dinner, and watched a movie.

First stop the following morning was Glass Beach. 

Check out the sea lions on the rock in the foreground. A quick nap after a long swim.

A little cave set back from where the beach was.

Pres and the kids went down to play around in the smoothed over glass on the beach and play football. I stayed up on the cliff and enjoyed the sunshine and beautiful surroundings. The beach was covered in glass. What looks like rocks are actually thousands of little smooth bits of glass that have been worked over by the ocean for decades.  Apparently the locals thought it was a good idea to make this area the dump over a hundred years ago.  Turned out to create quite a tourist attraction today.

Succulents surrounded the cliff tops. It was so pretty.

Beckham in his element.

Quinnie in hers :)

Such a gorgeous coastline.

After a drive to Glass Beach, we stopped for lunch at a delicious pizza place in Mendocino called Frankie's. We enjoyed a slice and headed around town to visit the different shops. They had some fun bakeries to grab a sweet bite after lunch. Once we had our chocolate fill, we headed to a favorite stop on any trip, the bookstore. After our book selections, we found a cozy spot back at the Airbnb to rest and relax. We ate a quick bite at home and decided to go for a walk on the beach while watching the sun set.

 It was fun to get out and walk along the path as the sun said good night. I loved having the kids in their jammies :) It just seemed like a perfect night.

 

Until tomorrow.

We saw tons of deer on our walk. It was so fun to see them all out and about. They seemed curious why we were out there as well.

The following morning we took a walk in the woods. Our Airbnb was set right in front of a cool wooded area with plenty of redwoods. We decided it was time to explore the backyard. It was super steep and grown over but beautiful. It was full of all kinds of foliage and trees. You could hear this stream from above at the house. It was nice being able to hike down and walk along it for a while. We let the kids be the trailblazers. It ended up being quite the hike, haha. 

Quinn found the hammock :)

 

Quick selfie with my love.

Awww gawrsh.

Our navigators paused for a quick picture. Instead of taking trails they would just hike straight up the mountain. It was interesting to see how their brains worked and what made most sense to them in finding their way back home. We may have gotten lost a time or two, but that led to some interesting discussions on life.

Cliffs by the lighthouse.

After our morning hike, we drove to Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Lighthouse. I wanted to make sure we saw the lighthouse before leaving. I love light houses. It was about a half of a mile walk out to the pier from the parking lot. We talked and enjoyed the views along the way. As we got closer to the light house, the cliffs became more apparent. They were roped off so people wouldn't get too close. It was beautiful to the way the water has been carving out these nooks in the cliffs. 

These three took off on a run to the lighthouse.

Beckham and I decided to stroll :)

The U.S. Coast Guard saying hello as they went by.

Point Cabrillo Lightkeepers Lighthouse

Such a cool lighthouse. It was the perfect day for us to adventure out and learn the history of this little beauty. On the way to the lighthouse they had a bunch of buildings with displays along the way including a little town-like area with quarters for the light keeper and several other families. They left the light keeper's quarters as a historical landmark, but you can rent and stay in the other little cabins around the property. We were able to tour the quarters. They were really well maintained and talked a lot about the duties of the lighthouse keeper.

When we made it to the lighthouse, the employee inside shared a crazy story with us about a wave crashing against the lighthouse in January of this year. She said that there had been a storm causing a series of 50 foot waves crashed against the lighthouse causing the alarms to go off and alerting the association. They arrived at the lighthouse to find the back door had been ripped open by the waves leaving mud, rocks, and ocean water all over the floor of the lighthouse. As they assessed the damage another wave struck the lighthouse with the employees inside while she was up by the light capturing videos of the damage. She said she couldn't believe what she was seeing and how huge the waves had gotten. The lighthouse sits on a cliff so you can imagine how powerful those waves had to be to cause that damage. The damage ended up costing somewhere in the tens of thousands. From the building itself to loss of merchandise and historical inventory inside.

We were happy to be there on a calmer day :) 

As we walked the coast line we were all eyes open in search of finding a whale. 

Then we spotted several!

We loved watching this pod move along the coast. We had read that they stay fairly close to the coastline because of the kelp. They have kelp gardens all along this shoreline which is why the whales travel this way each year. It was so cool to see them coming up and out of the ocean. We would try to guess how long they would travel before rising to the service again.

A look up the northern coastline from the lighthouse.

Saw this cutie just hanging out so I had to snap a pic.

Another shot of the cliffs.

Succulents everywhere!

One last shot of the lighthouse before heading home.

I wanted to try and get a family pic while we were there. It ended up working out perfectly!

Clark Family 2023

Jackson Scott

Beckham James

Quinn Marie

One more close up of this cute family of mine.

A few shots as the sun set.

Heading back to the car. I loved this line of trees along the road.

Another beach to explore.

It was a windy and cold day so the waves were super high. We enjoyed watching them crash into the rocks and getting sprayed with that salty water mist. 

Clark's saying goodbye to Mendocino! Such an awesome trip.

We took Highway 1 home. So happy we chose to go that route. It was gorgeous the entire way!

I couldn't believe all the seals just north of Bodega Bay! I made Pres pull over so I could get a pic :)

Checking out the seals.

Bodega Bay

One last shot as we headed into Bodega Bay. We stopped and grabbed lunch at a delicious Chicago style hot dog joint. It took me back to my childhood. Eating a delicious brat, chips, with a pop in hand :)

Mendocino and Fort Bragg did not disappoint. We had the perfect balance of doing fun things on-the-go and relaxing. Long walks on the beaches, exploring new places like the lighthouse and glass beach, and movie nights with popcorn every night after a long soak in the hot tub. We played Bananagrams, Jenga, and card games while singing along to some of our favorite songs. Grabbing delicious fish and chips for dinner while sitting at a marina watching the seals pass by. California never seems to disappoint when it comes to all things nature. There is so much to see and offer. One of the reasons I am grateful to live in a place where you never seem to be done exploring. Hmmm, where will the Clark's go next?!