Gualala, California - 2004

We move north of the Bay Area to visit our next destination, Gualala.  Pronounced “wah-la-la,” this is one of the small, little towns along the Mendocino Coast in Northern California, about ten miles south of Point Arena.

It’s another "Tim"less getaway while he’s at summer camp in the mountains near Lake Arrowhead.  It’s over 500 miles and eight hours of driving to get here, so we stop overnight in a forgettable motel in the memorable, cute little town of Martinez on the east side of the San Francisco Bay.  The next morning, we continue on the 101, moving over to Highway 1 when we get to Petaluma.  It’s a beautiful coastline drive past Tomales Bay, Bodega Bay (where Hitchcock fimed The Birds), and Sea Ranch where we finally cross the Gualala River into the small town.

Our lodging would be at The Seacliff on the Bluff, an inn sitting right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the lagoon and the ocean.  While semi-accessible rooms (bathtub) are on the bottom floor, we got a room upstairs for this trip.  All rooms here feature floor-to-ceiling windows looking straight out at the ocean, a deck, two-person Jacuzzi tub, fireplace, king size bed, robes, and a fridge stocked with a complimentary bottle of champagne.

It’s not really family oriented but for a romantic getaway, it’s ideal.  Rates run from $140 - $175 for the summer months but call ahead and sometimes they have a free third night available if you pay for two nights.  We did and it brought our total to around $300 for three nights, or about $100 per night.  For a large, oceanfront room with spectacular views.

It’s about lunchtime when we arrive and next door is a small shopping center with a deli called Trinks.  We have a couple of really delicious sandwiches along with some wonderful desserts.  It was a delicious lunch and we’ll keep this in mind later for a picnic.

Dinner was at a place across the street from the supermarket that had an outdoor deck with a spectacular view but suffered from mediocre food and incredibly slow and borderline rude service so we’ll just move on…shall we?

The next morning, we go back to Trinks and get some sandwiches and dessert to go along with a light breakfast.  Our destination today is Annapolis.  No, not the home of the Naval Academy but a small village up in the hills behind us.

We’ve brought our picnic lunch up from Gualala, up here high on a hill, to Annapolis Winery.  Letty loves chickens so the rooster logo immediately picks up her interest.  Mine is piqued by the great white wines they have there.  We take advantage of the free tasting and get a bottle of their delicious gewürztraminer to go with our deli lunch and have a wonderful little picnic out on their lawn.

Driving back down, we explore some of the surrounding area.  We visit the Timbercove lodge and then take a look in this differently designed chapel next to the road in Sea Ranch.

Dinner tonight would be at a little Mexican joint just north of Gualala.  It is very good and makes up for the lousy dinner we had the night before.  It was called Lucy’s then but I believe it’s gone or changed its name since we were there.

The next morning, we’re heading the other way.  Yesterday, we went south, today we go north.  To start off, we head up to Point Arena and the Point Arena Lighthouse.

Out on the rocky and turbulent point, this lighthouse has been assisting navigators since 1870.  It was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and rebuilt.

Today, it still is in service, but this little light on the rail is what works today.  The Fresnel lens inside is still in perfect condition, but is just for looks these days.

You can visit the lighthouse and much of the grounds, visitor’s center, and gift shop are accessible.  Unfortunately, like most lighthouses of this vintage, the only access to the top is via a long, steep, circular iron stairway.

It’s a bit foggy today anyway but it still makes a nice stop along the way.

Next, we’re heading to one of the state’s many fine wine countries.  As much as I knock my home state, one thing we are justifiably proud of is our wine industry.  Truly world class with many, many official Viticultural Areas.  In fact, there are currently over 100 officially designated AVA growing areas in the state.  Today, we’re heading to the Anderson Valley AVA, located in a redwood filled gorge along the Navaro River about 20 miles south of Mendocino.

Along the way, on highway 128, we stop to take a little hike through the redwoods.  The areas on both sides of the road are part of the Navaro River Redwoods State Park.

Emerging from the forest, we make it to Husch Vineyards where we taste the wines and buy some of their great chardonnay. 

We continue along until we reach Gowen’s Fruit Stand where we get some fruit for lunch and enjoy out back with a friendly pooch that wandered by.

Back in Gualala, it’s foggy again, but we park at the end of town and hike out to the sand spit that separates the ocean from the lagoon.  It’s about a mile or so hike and we end up across from our room…so close I could throw a rock and hit it but we must hike all the way back the way we came.

The fog lifts just in time for sunset and we decide to indulge in the champagne left in our fridge along with some fruit from the stand we visited earlier. 

We sit out on the balcony, with a fire roaring behind us in the room, and feed scraps to the seagulls that land on our rail.

Sitting back with a glass of champagne, a fire to our back, and the sun setting over the Pacific, it’s time to wrap up this trip and make the long drive home.

Darryl

Copyright 2010 – Darryl Musick

All Rights Reserved.

CLASSIC TRIP - Elk, California (Mendocino Coast) 2000

Our destination tonight is the tiny village of Elk located half way between Mendocino and Point Arena.  The drive would be from Redding through Ukiah and then over the coastal mountains to Elk. Along the way we would first make a stop for the kid in Clear Lake.

What Tim wanted that day was to spend a refreshing afternoon at Outrageous Waters, a small water park. This we did and it was a lot of fun floating around the lazy river all afternoon in our inner tubes. Unfortunately for a kid in a wheelchair, that is the only attraction there he could go on. So we went around on the lazy river...and around and around and around......

Back on the road, we circled Clear Lake and I missed our exit. Soon, we were back on track and found the road over to Boonville from Ukiah. 16 miles of some of the windiest road we’ve come across. Once in Boonville, the map showed one more road over to Elk. 18 more miles of very windy road. That last 18 miles took over an hour.

While the drive is difficult, it provides a formidable barrier to keep the rest of civilization at bay from Elk. It is a beautiful isolation that’s imposed on this rugged section of coast.

The sign says the population is 250 but that may be an optimistically high number. Tim and I easily walked from one end of town to other in 5 minutes.

We stayed at the Griffin House Bed and Breakfast. Accessibility here is compromised for price. The wheelchair could get around the little cabins without too much difficulty but the big old antique clawfoot bathtubs present quite a challenge for a disabled person to get into, even with help. Even able-bodied persons such as my wife and myself had trouble with the tubs, mainly because they were...just...too...big! Once in, however, the shower head is on a hose.

There are no grab bars in the bathrooms but there is a common accessible restroom up towards the front behind the pub.

There are rooms with more accessibility in Elk but tip the scales in price. The Griffin House is among the lowest priced accommodations here, is very luxurious, has a prime cliff top location, and includes a very sumptuous breakfast delivered to your cabin each morning. The cabins themselves include two rooms so parents and kids can be separated at bedtime.

The little Bridget Dolan’s pub at the front of the inn provides the town’s sole means of night life. It’s a warm cozy place where you can wrap yourself around your favorite drink and chat with the locals, read a book or play a game. The Greenwood Pier, next door provides a nice dinner house but, maybe it was just the day we were there, there were many flies buzzing around inside.

Blackberries Ready to be Picked

At the south end of town, and accessible path provides access to the small beach at the base of the cliffs. Wild blackberries abound in the town providing instant snacks.


A half hour drive in either direction on Highway 1 will bring you to more civilized climes. North will take you to Mendocino. This New England style town hosts many boutique shops and restaurants. Our highlight here was the Mendocino Botanical Gardens a little farther north in Fort Bragg.

The gardens consists of hundreds of acres of unique microclimates and plantings. Miles of wheelchair accessible trails wind their way through the forests, creeks, and flowers ending up at the spectacular bluffs overlooking the sea.

Driving south will take you to the quaint little town of Point Arena. Here you can have a nice dinner overlooking the small century old wharf. After dinner take in a movie at Point Arena’s oustandingly restored theater. This old-style single screen theater will take you back to those great movie houses of your youth while perplexing the youngsters who can’t imagine a theater with only one screen.

No front row stadium seating worries here either. Perfect wheelchair seating locations were built in with the restoration near the center-rear of the theater.

Back in Elk, our main activity was just to relax, sit on the edge of the cliffs with a warm drink in our hand and marvel at the views. You can’t help but to just sit back and take it easy here...cell phones and pagers just won’t work on this isolated stretch of coast.

In short, if you’re just worn out from civilization or just really, really want to get away from it all without traveling halfway around the world, the natural beauty and isolation of this part of the Northern California coast may be just the ticket.

© 2000 Darryl Musick