The Traveling Twosome: Mendocino Holiday

June 27, Tuesday - Day 3

Traveled 103 miles

Healdsburgh to Mendocino via Ukiah

After packing up at the hotel - and a full breakfast - we still found room for a scrumptious pastry at Cousteaux French Bakery in downtown Healdsburgh. It's been there since 1923 and is world reknown for its pastries and gourmet baked goods. What could be better (says Pam) of a day of pastries and wine tasting.

Pam just had to take a photo of this monk. He's been the Cousteaux mascot for decades. The staff often decorate the monk for Bastille Day and then have him wear a beret, or flowers. Mid-May a driver jumped the curb and plowed into the courtyard. No one was injured except the monk, who lost his head and arms. Luckily they were able to put him back together in time for our visit.

Pam is telling Norm that she wants this and this and this and this and this and this....

So many to choose from, many of them we had visited before. This trip we elected to visit only one winery, that being the opulent Ferrari-Carano Vineyard and Winery on the outskirts of Healdsburg. Founded in 1981, the 5-acre grounds are lush and rival any botanical garden we've seen. The Old World-style estate looks like it's out of a movie set - gorgeous.

This bronze sculpture of a wild boar named "Bordeaux" sits along the entry walk. It weighs 1300 lbs and was created by Douglas Van Howd in 2001. It represents a real wild pig that used to conduct regular destructive raids on the garden. They say that everyone who rubs the boar's metal snout will receive good luck.

Since both Cricket and Pam are in the photo, the finger in the upper left must belong to Mr. Scruffy. Cricket is doing his reasonable facsimile of "rubbing the nose". The last time he did something similar was at the tomb of Abraham Lincoln in Illinois, when he licked the schnozz on Abe's bronze bust. Next stop, the Pope's ring!

Just when you think your own back yard is pretty nifty...

And this not even the grounds' blooming-est time of the year...

All so richly appointed, just made for private tastings for the 1% and members of the Bohemian Club. To heck with using a pick to wrest gold from the ground, pick grapes from the vine instead. That"s where the real moolah is.

My word....

We selected the $15 flight and they really were generous pours - none of that just coating the inside of the glass. The downside was that we had a bit of a tricky road to negotiate to reach Mendocino so we had to leave some wine in the glasses. Well, at least Norm did. It'll be a couple of years yet before Honda Fits are autonomous driving vehicles.

On a wooden bridge in the famous gardens.

Sculpture of Rhonda Carano who created the gardens. The front gardens have a park-like setting. The back gardens are Italian/French with classic, geometric shapes.

Flowers here are either after their peak, or before their peak - take your peak...er, pick.

Ever wonder where corks come from? In the era of screw caps, who cares?

To reach Mendocino we decided to take the road less traveled, that being Orr Springs road which takes off to the northwest just above Ukiah. The popular road is Highway 128 which goes through the Anderson Valley of wine fame. But been there, so we ended up on this execrable excuse for a road with its lumpy patches on patches and randomly spotted, sharp edged chuckholes. Then there was this.....

We primarily took this road to visit this redwood reserve out in the boonies. Unlike Muir Woods, Montgomery Woods has 7 parking spaces and an outhouse - we easily found a parking spot. No fees, no crowds, just trees.

Never let an informative exhibit go to waste.

Enjoy the redwoods now because they are quickly dwindling in numbers.

In fairness, this is the old outhouse - note the crescent carved on the door. Still smells pretty interesting to Cricket, though. There is a modern flush loo by the parking area.

Why the smiles and "thumbs up"? See next photo....

...several miles past Montgomery Woods, Orr Springs Road segued into Comptche Ukiah Road. The beast was tamed and it was thus easy cruisin' the rest of the way to the ocean. Free at last!

Cricket loves his face in the wind, the aromas ramming up his nose - at least when its under 40 mph and not too chilly. Other than that, it's SURF'S UP!!!