Still here

Memorial Day, the unoffical start of the summer season, had come and gone. Personally, I feel it's all downhill from here. The rest of the year would be gone before we know it. But it's a nice change to have a little more heat than we normally have. Although I'm pretty sure I'd be whiny when I can't get some sleep because it's too hot. Still summer is a time of creating happy memories. I have a camping trip in July at the same cabin we stayed at a few years ago with family. I'm going with friends this time around.

I took a short 3-day get-away this Memorial Day. We drove out on Monday, Memorial Day itself, happy that the traffic was all on the other side of the road. We stayed in Mendocino at the Mendocino Hotel courtesy of a Travelzoo voucher. I fell in love with Mendocino at first sight many years ago and vowed to return and stay at this historic hotel. I was a bit deflated when I was given my room number and was told that my room was on a separate location. It's actually just behind the hotel, they have two garden houses that double as garden suites. I have no complaints about my room, have been dreaming of staying in a Victorian room. The garden setting is likewise very charming - well all of Mendocino is charming.

We timed our arrival perfectly. The flowers are all blooming. Each house is decorated by blooming garden.

We didn't have a plan or a list of what to see, although we did research about them. Most of the eateries close at 8, some shops close earlier. We looked around for places to eat, but nothing attracted us. For one, we don't want to spend too much for meals. Not only were we conserving our pennies, we were also planning on avoiding ingesting too much calories on this trip. Thankfully we found a local grocery store (like Whole Foods) that has a good deli. We bought salads and Mexican food and Indian food from them. Their food is amazing. Plus, they don't give you a paper or plastic bag with your purchase. You have to make a separate purchase for bags. Then they give you a token (dime for a bag) signifying you bought a bag. The token is to be placed inside one of the four glass containers before leaving the store. Each glass container is for a local charity. What a nice gesture.

At a Vegan/Veggie store I found an ylang-ylang oil, which brought me home to the Phil just by smelling its fragrance. I wanted to buy one bottle, they come in small bottles, but it's way too expensive for me, it was $18.99 for a small bottle. Can't afford it.

This part of California is wet and foggy. We had rain for the first two days. Well, more of a drizzle on and off on the second day, but it was foggy. We went to see the Albion river, the Mendocino Botanical Garden, the Mendocino Headlands State Park and the Glass Beach. We stopped at stores to browse merchandise. Also stopped at a nursery to find the plant we wanted and found. It's called Tower of Jewel. We forgot to stop on the way home to buy it though, yikes.

The hotel didn't offer free continental breakfast, so we went looking for breakfast. On the second day, we went for brunch (yes we were on vacation so we got up late) at Eggheads, a local dive. Good food. We both had omelets. I was craving for hash browns, but they only have country potatoes. Not the same. So on the third day, despite all good sense, I dragged the hubby to Denny's for hash brown. It's the only one we could think of that has hash browns, so we forced ourselves to have some Denny's breakfast. Not that their food is bad, it's just not good. You know what I mean.

The rocky, rugged coastline, the charming Victorian houses, the plentiful wildflowers, the tall trees, the cold wind, the salty air, kelp all over the beach, the scenic Highway 1 - there's so much to enjoy in the north coast. I didn't realize that last year we were up here on the north coast again for our anniversary, except we went further north in Eureka as our base. It's just beautiful up there.

Especially when the sun comes out and the fog lifts and the sky is blue and the ocean is pretty shades of blue. Yes, it was like that on our third day, our last day.
We found ourselves singing the California state song while watching the waves crashed on the craggy bluffs..... I love you California, you're the greatest state of all.

Dear Blog

Long time no hear dear blog, I was kinda busy with life. I know you feel neglected, but there are duties that need to be attended to first. It sucks I know. If I could, I'd devote all my free time to you.

I'm sure you are pissed that I took a little overnight trip to the wine country, but dear blog, I really needed that time off with the hubby. What a lovely time off it got to be.

Who would have thought that I'd take an overnight trip to a place that is only an hour's drive away? But well, the package deal was too good to be ignored. What a good idea that turned out to be.

Vintner's Inn is a little relaxation haven. Set in a vineyard with spacious rooms and a lovely courtyard, it was just what a the doctor ordered for a little time off.

Sta. Rosa is a charming old town, larger than I thought it was, and hipper than I ever imagined. We walked around the historic Railroad Square , poking our heads into the many stores, particularly the thrift stores, except that the prices in the thrift store were not for the thrifty at all.

Since I was there dear blog I got another item from the bucket list ticked off. We ate at Guy Fieri's restaurant, JOHNNY GARLIC'S. And this was right after a wine tasting at Ferrari-Carano and a sandwich at a little deli/market near Healdsburg. We were very full, but we needed to taste what Guy Fieri's is all about. Too full for a full meal, and we were having dinner that evening, so we just sat in the bar had some drinks and ordered an appetizer, which was really good. We ordered fried artichoke, that came with fresh potato chips. Not bad.

The dinner at ASH AND CO was a nice touch. The hubby said, it's a belated Valentine's celebration. And this after I posted something about us not doing anything for Valentine's. I'm eating my words. If you want to know from the menu I ordered these: I had the Asian style tuna tartare for appetizer, which was to die for. I enjoyed the seaweed which I think they called wakame salad. It was excellent and a large portion for the price. For entree I had the pan seared cobia and diver scallops. It's good, but not a real wow experience. However, the cobia was an excellent fish, it's meaty and creamy. Soooo good. For the hubby, his meal included: wilted baby spinach salad and one of the special of the day, which was a lamb chop and veal sausage with fingerling potatoes and beans. I also had a little cocktail called MOSCOW MULE

Anyway, blog, now that I'm back from photographing and tasting the beautiful Sonoma County, I'm read to give you some more time.