My first thoughts, less than an hour off the road, are "wow the 9 holes of golf at Sea Ranch weren't such a good idea combined with this drive". I'm sore and the windy coastal path past Sea Ranch, Fort Ross, and Bodega Bay didn't help. Has anyone seen an Advil?
Processing the four day trip up and back down the coast I reflect on my feelings, thoughts, impressions, and my natural bias towards thinking of the Northern Coast as a place for people my parents age and not for trendy 20-and-30-somethings like our account planning team.
And then it happened - the aches and pains started to hint at what Mendocino really is. Mendo is a haven for athletic DINKS who like to exercise and adventure together. Their sense of romance is heightened at the beginning of their journey and the experience of active travel brings them closer together. No amount of caviar, golf, and shopping in Carmel or Sonoma could match what a weekend of bonding adventure does for them. I guess I didn't see it at first because I was on a family trip and not a romantic (but active) getaway.
This was a pretty un-scientific trip. I did a lot of stopping into stores going up the coast and accosting innocent by-standers who looked to be around my age. Many were local, others were not. The brief conversations yielded a few interesting moments.
Here is a very compressed version of my notes:
Lake Mendocino
- Bass Fishing. No really, this is a huge sport
Mendocino Coast
- Huge running destination
- Sea Kayaking & Sea Caves tours
- Botanical Gardens (older skew)
- Good coastal cycling but not as big as kayaking
Mendocino Village
- Shopping for unique local artists, clothing, & jewelry
- Mendocino Chocolate Company
- Murder She Wrote house
- Classic 1930s style interiors in the finer eating establishments
- Fantastic wine tastings
- No corkage fees at local restaurants when drinking Mendocino wine
Mendocino Wine
- Wine from outside the region costs a small fortune
- Mendocino wines are deeply discounted
- Mendocino is known for organic & biodynamic farming practices
- Wines are crafted to have a bold and often playful character
- Wine makers I talked to actually spoke with disdain about the one-size-fits-all ranking systems (i.e. "this Gallo scored a 92")
Lodging Notes:
- Rates are about $100 lower than Carmel or Sonoma for comparable lodgings
- Sample 4 star: http://brewerygulchinn.com
My key words for Mendocino DINKS are: ROMANTIC, ATHLETIC, and NOMADIC
- This is a place where the people I talked to went to get lost, to get away, to breathe the sea air and experience something uncorrupted. They were invigorated and inspired.
- This is a get-away-from-life-and-just-live destination, not so much a golf & shopping extravaganza.
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