MENDOCINO - SAME PLACE, NEXT TIME

Years ago, I overheard somebody mention Mendocino as a lovely village in Northern California, about five hours driving north from San Francisco.  Since then, it has always been on my wish list and late December 2011, a day before New Year’s Eve, I finally made it.  Early Spanish navigators bestowed the town’s name in honor of Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of New Spain (which included modern-day California).

It is indeed a relaxing soothing place to be in.  The New England-style Victorian homes, the waft of the Pacific ocean breeze, the snugness and “safeness” one feels as you meander around, the jagged bluffs, windswept headlands with easy trails, at dusk – Pacific coast sunset which has a spectacular red- orange hue far out in the blue sea, and the general sense of quiet cordiality, are just few reasons why Mendocino is indeed special.

Later, I found out Mendocino has been a film locale since 1904 for well-known movies such as The Summer of ’42, and Same Time, Next Year.  The village pretended to be Cabot Cove, Maine in the TV show Murder She Wrote.   Murder sleuth Jessica Fletcher’s house is now a Bed and Breakfast (see www.blairhouse.com).   
Sadly in real life, murders do happen in the greater Mendocino county.

You would expect a town like Mendocino to be pricey like Aspen, Colorado.  But it ain’t, restaurant prices are above-average but not haute cuisine high.  And there is good affordable ready-to-eat takeout at Harvest, the local supermarket. 

I stayed in a very cozy lodge called the Jug Handle Creek Farm for under US$50 a night, http://jughandlecreekfarm.com.    Shared bathrooms but one was humongous, and I mean the size of a room which can fit a king-size bed and more.  This bathroom has also the largest bathroom mirror I think in the world - with the L/W dimensions of a sedan. 

Truly Mendocino beckons.