Rain today but we have places to go and things to do. We’re heading towards Mendocino with the hopes of visiting the Botanical Garden.
As it turned out, the Garden looked more like a nursery and so we traveled on 12 more miles to the coastal village of Mendocino, the rain had stopped for a little while and we stopped for a coffee and pastry at the Good Life Bakery and Cafe.
We talked with a lady who had just moved to Mendocino from Palos Altos, she was so glad she made the move. Life is much slower and calmer is this little coastal village. Many of the buildings still remain from the 1850’s when it was a logging community. With the decline of logging during the 1950’s, an art community was established and is still going strong.
After our stop in Mendocino, we continued on Route 1 towards Elk. The coastal vistas are just beautiful and Bill had to stop every few miles to take photos.
Again, the climbs were of the rolling nature, not too steep and once you were at the top of a hill, you started down again.
We are staying in Elk tonight at the Sacred Rock Resort.
It is just a few cottages taken over and financed by the Miwuk Indians. Their plan is to refurbish many of the older homes near these cottages to make a coastal resort.
Once we unloaded our pannier bags, we walked down the road to the Greenwood State Park Visitor Center, in a building that used to house several families of “back to the landers” or “hippies” in the 1970’s. The Visitor Center has some of the crafts and products of the skills that these young families had to learn to survive in this backwoods community. I was impressed with the stitchery – in fact – it rivals what my 93-year-old mother-in-law creates.
After leaving the Visitor Center, we walked along the coastal cliffs, admiring the Sacred Rocks after which this resort was named.
There were many times on our ride today where we said, “This reminds me of Ireland.” With the rain, the fog and then the mist, and the rocky coast, we could have been cycling the Ring of Kerry or Wicklow Gap.
