Mendocino Madness...

We just returned from our latest adventure to Mendocino on the Northern Coast of California. Technically, we stayed in Elk, California...a mighty metropolis of 250 people! There's not a whole lot going on in Elk, folks, but that is exactly what we needed. Here's the detail of our adventure:

We started out on Thursday morning *after* doing something which MeLissa is terribly excited about! She is now, officially, the proud owner of a business! Yes, she obtained her business license for her wedding and event coordination business that morning! Since she also reserved the website address last night, we're pleased to announce that Winsome Events will soon be open for business! MeLissa was pretty giddy on the drive to our destination because it just felt so cool to say she now owns her own business. :)

At any rate, on our way up to Elk, we fell victim to sometimes confusing road signage and exited when we shouldn't have. We decided to ask directions (which is a big thing - MeLissa *hates* asking for directions! And, yes, you read that right - MeLissa not Mark has an "issue" with asking for directions - you've always known we were a unique couple!) We discovered that we had exited to soon, but that there was a lovely scenic drive if we just kept going on the road we were travelling on. Since our kind direction guy indicated that the drive wasn't too much longer than heading back to the 101, we decided to be rebels and take the backroads so that we could experience the breath-taking views it was supposed to provide. Um, not so much as you can see from the pictures here, but we did get to see a vulture eating what appeared to be a dead cow (we didn't get close enough to verify this). Sorry for the blurriness of the photo, but you get the idea (or you will if you click on it - it's a wee bit small).

At any rate, we finally made it out of the foresty area (after what seemed like 3 or 4 hours - way longer than the 101 route!) and found "civilization." Well, sort of, there were a lot of teensy weensy albeit charming towns. In one, Point Arena, we stopped to see the lighthouse and snap a couple of pictures.

We continued on down the road to Elk where our first night's room was waiting at the Griffin House. We stayed in the Gunderson room. It had a charming wood fireplace that we enjoyed very much. This was our "reasonable" room for the weekend, and for the price, it was a nice room. It was nice, too, that it didn't have a TV and our cell phones could not get a signal. It was a great way to force us to relax! This is definitley a benefit of Elk, in general!

We should mention that we truly appreciated the innkeepers' efforts to ensure that MeLissa could actually eat something for breakfast (which they deliver to the room each morning!). That evening, for dinner, we ventured to the Little River Inn where we enjoyed a lovely dining experience. Our server and the manager of the restaurant, took great care to ensure that MeLissa's food was allergy-free as well - we noted that they really are customer-service oriented in this region of California. It was a great meal - MeLissa still thinks of the brussels sprouts she had - they were the tastiest she's had in her lifetime (yes, she actually likes brussels sprouts) and they had the most mellow balsamic vinegar she's ever had also.

The next morning, we had our breakfast and then packed up the car and headed to Mendocino where we hoped to see a whale. We didn't have much luck, but we did catch a glimpse of this adorable seagull (yes, it's the requisite bird picture, folks...you will get used to them!). We also saw (in our rearview mirror) a couple of lovebirds! We even saw an elk (the only elk we saw during our entire trip, in fact!) that looked very much like our dear Mark. This elk came with us to lunch in Ft. Bragg!

We headed back that evening to Elk to check into our posh second room at The Elk Cove Inn & Spa. We madea quick stop at Navarro Point to catch a picture of the sun shining on the water and Mark doing his best J Crew (per Mark) pose.

We were in the lap of luxury in our second room, the Lumbar Baron's room where we slept in the bed that the lumbar company executives would stay in when they came to Elk. Outside of our room was this gorgeous calla lily which MeLissa just had to take a snap shot of.

We took a stroll to the beach to catch some sunset views before returning to the inn for a fabulous dinner which we're still dreaming about at night! Here are a few of the views we

captured:

And here is a view of MeLissa demonstrating the Karate Kid Crane at Mark's request (we couldn't let him have all the silly pictures after all!):

We even have another picture of those lovebirds (and in this one you can kinda sorta see Mark's pupil in his right eye (which is on your left!):

Our dinner was absolutely fabulous! We so highly recommend this inn's restaurant. Not only did they work around MeLissa's allergies, but they did it with flair. We enjoyed an appetizer of shrimp wrapped in prosciutto followed by dinner salads in the best seat in the house. Then, Mark enjoyed sea bass with a cajun creole sauce and these absolutely wonderful polenta frites (which MeLissa has determined to replicate in an allergy free way at home) and MeLissa enjoyed a tender filet mignon with freshly sauteed spinach, these to-die-for mushrooms and smoky baby artichokes. We didn't leave anything on our plates! We finished up with pineapple sorbet for MeLissa and Bailey's Irish Cream ice cream for Mark - both were yummy! Back in our room, we enjoyed a taste of port with chocolates - it was good, but Mark thinks he'll stick with just the chocolate by itself. :) MeLissa also snapped a shot of the shell pendants she'd found in Ft. Bragg at a shell shop for $2 each - what a steal!

The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast with the birdies (sorry! no pictures - the camera was in our room!) in the inn's restaurant. We enjoyed a lot of things, but the oatmeal with chocolate chips was MeLissa's favorite...until her gamble with not asking about the chocolate backfired. It apparently had soy in it. Oops. At least it was worth the slightly "out of it" feeling that ensued. :) We packed up and started for home. On our way, we visited a rock shop where we found many treasures (MeLissa purchased her jewelry quota for the year) and a redwood forest where we snapped some shots of the wildlife that was around and some pretty lovely clover patches - just the thing to make an Irish girl feel welcome! After this adventure, we headed home, but we made sure to stop at the snoopy store in Santa Rosa (across from the Charles Schulz Museum) where we picked up some more "loot."
We returned home to a very needy kitty who has been whining and acting neurotic pretty much non-stop. We figure Pixie will calm down in a couple of days when she figures out we're not going anywhere for too long for a while. Until then, we're not guessing we'll be getting too much sleep around here. So much for the lasting effects of our vacation!