From Mendocino, California

I woke unusually early after a restless night with an extremely painful hip—hardly conducive to a good night’s sleep. So I did not bother to try to catch any further sleep and chose, instead, to spend the hour before Ellie woke on a curative and calming meditation. The returned to my book for a while with the aid of a flashlight, not wanting to wake her before her natural time.
Once Ellie woke, though, we were up and readying ourselves for the road. Breakfast for George. Pack bags and lug out to trunk of Toyota Prius. Quick stop in town for a cup of coffee, and off on the highway. (We discovered only later in the day, on our arrival in Mendecino, that we had missed an email from Robin over at The Darma Bums to say that she and Roger were visiting only a few miles away with Tara of TaraDharma, and would we like to get together for breakfast? We would have done, would have loved the chance to meet, to put faces to the blogs… but alas, we must have passed each other on the road, like proverbial ships in the night. Too bad!)

We made it through the complicated freeway system in the Bay Area, thanks to excellent Yahoo maps and directions and some fine navigation by Ellie, and made a quick stop for gas just north of San Rafael before driving on through the lovely golden hillsides



and, increasingly, the brilliant vineyards of Sonoma County.



We made a breakfast stop in Healdsburg, taking time to wander through the aisles of giant antique malls

—without, thankfully, finding anything that we “couldn’t live without”...


...including this gem (the one top left, not the one down center.)
North of Healdsburg, we preferred the county roads over Highway 1, and got lost in Cloverdale on our search for a New York Times (another addiction, I’m afraid!) We were told there was a Starbucks there—a usually reliable source for the article in question—but had a hard time actually locating it. From there, an unnecessarily roundabout route to find highway 128 west, which led us through a glorious landscape of hills and forests

back to Highway 1, the coastal road, where we turned north for the final few miles to Mendocino.

Complications with George. The hotel, chosen online, proved not entirely suitable to our needs: the room was tiny, and it would have been impossible to leave George without incurring his vocal protests, so before anything else we scurried about online to see what could be done to change our plans. As a result, we’ll be staying here one night only, instead of the three we had planned.

A very lovely walk, though, out along the cliffs.




and into the village.


The coastal weather is proving very misty and quite cold, making outdoor dining (with George, who is generally not allowed indoors) a sometimes challenging experience. You have to find a restaurant with outdoor tables but also, in this part of the world, with overhead heaters, to fend off the chill. We did remarkably well last night, at the Moose Café, where we ate well, in a sheltered corner and beneath a gas heater that, despite some initial difficulties, eventually performed well. An excellent meal, in fact, with a hearty, belly-warming broccoli soup, a very tasty baby green salad with an unusual dressing, and flank steak. Shared, as is now our habit, from beginning to end…

And an early bed, ready for another morning departure.