Long weekend Trip to Mendocino

We drove out on Pacific coast highway last February from San Francisco to Mendocino. Its a beautiful drive through the mountains by the seaside. Every view out of the window is breathtaking, the heart would want to take a halt at every bend in the road. Since this drive is a very casual one, it was great to take stops and have some sipping coffee while doing that.

We drove 225 miles in 10 hours taking our sweet time and crashed into a motel.

Fort Bragg Historic Skunk Train:
Started the weekend with Historic Skunk train at Fort Bragg. Its an old locomotive that takes you through Redwood forests. Had some packed lunch, sipped some hot chocolate and were back by Afternoon. I was not really thrilled, i would suggest this only to kids and families. There is not much to do, we saw much better Redwoods in and around Mendocino. Also there are no trails or hike opportunities. But a great getaway with kids.

Glass Beach:
Had heard a lot about the beach and seen some beautiful pics out there. It felt like a regular north california beach, cold yet beautiful. This beach has curated glass particles, due to some old garbage being dumped at site. The beach and the glass was beautiful, though depleted a lot due to tourists picking up the glasses.

Lighthouse:
One of the best spots to have a majestic sunset view. The clear sky, the lighthouse painted white and red and the shimmering sun made the evening very picturesque. It a beautiful quiet location and a great spot for whale watching. Mendocino has Whale watching festivals in the month of March.

Botanical Garden:
The next morning started with the beautiful colors of the Mendocino Coast botanical garden. Surprisingly it was not the garden but the beautiful coast that caught the attention.

We drove towards north before driving back home. Drive through pacific highway is again a beauty with lush redwoods and mountains.

Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree Park is a privately owned property, and even though there are quite a lot of drive thru trees in California, but a trip without this picture would have been incomplete.

Adieu
Divya