A Camping We Will Go-Mendocino

Canoeing and Russian Gulch were great fun, but it was also wonderful to spend a few hours in Mendocino.  I love how the town appears in the distance as you drive up Highway 1.  The white steeple of the Presbyterian (?) church jutting up into the sky is just charming in an old- fashioned New England kind of way.  In college, at UCSB, I took a class on comparative religions and that steeple, or is it a spire?, was on the front cover of my textbook. Unfortunately, that is the only thing I remember about that class (oh, wait, I also ran into the TA on the bus one afternoon).

Anyway, I digress...

After canoeing, letterboxing, and visiting the blowhole that doesn't blow at Russian Gulch, we went into town for dinner.  I don't know where families with kids eat in that village, I guess they must drive to Fort Bragg.  We eventually found a burger joint, Mendo Burger, that we could all agree on.  The food was amazingly good and I would definitely return there--especially since it appears to be the only kid friendly restaurant around.  As we were waiting for our food, I was rifling through my letterboxing clues and realized that one box referred to a statue that I had just pointed out as we were searching for food.  I ran out and retrieved the box and brought it back to the restaurant to do my stamping.

After dinner, Brian's brother's family headed back to camp.  Brian, Kiersta, and I lingered and went for a walk along the Mendocino Headlands in the fog.  Blackberry bushes were incredibly abundant and dripping with ripe berries, which Kiersta and I ate with gusto.  

We found a large wooden structure that Kiersta pretended was her throne while she was Princess Tata.  This is now one of my most favorite pictures of Kiersta.  I love the gray background of the fog.  What you don't see is Brian hovering nearby because this throne was quite close to the cliff's edge.

   

  

We also passed this wonderful old tree.  It is just screaming to have a letterbox placed near it,                                                                                     don't you think?  Who's going to plant it?  I look forward to finding the box on my next trip to Mendocino?